Wrong place, wrong time
by pvt jim
Summary: In a facility experiments were taking place and of course things got out of control. Special forces units were dispatched to retake the compound. These commandos are well trained and equipped for the current situation, however along the perimeter are two privates that are not. Believing it a training exercise they are unaware they are being watched by greedy, lustful inhuman eyes.
1. Just a couple of POGs

The night air was still, cool and mostly clam, that was expect for the Blackhawk helicopters that circled around a large building, like angry hornets shining spot lights along the ground. The pilots' headphones were abuzz with heavy radio traffic.

"Alpha team has reached checkpoint one and is receiving heavy contact!"

"Bravo team pinned down in corridor echo 12. Sir we need back up now!"

"Foxtrot team is inbound now just hang on son."

"This is Eagle five perimeter clear."

"This is Eagle three Charlie team deployed and moving to breach point."

"Charlie team has reached incretion point and preparing to breach." The six Green Berets that made up Charlie team stood on the right side of a thick metal door. A specialist with _turbo_ written in black marker on the back of his helmet taped two IV bags around a coil of det cord. He then placed them where the door's hinges would be. He made up three more and placed them on the other two hinges and lock linking them all with a long piece of det cord.

"We're set boss," Turbo said moving away from the door.

"This is Charlie team we are breaching," A sergeant said into his radio. "Do it." Turbo hit the detonator setting off the det cord. When it did it forced the water into a razor's edge that could cut through steel with ease. When the smoke cleared the door was on the floor a smooth hole that the water had cut was all that was left in the wall. Turbo who was in front shouldered his SCAR complete with CCO, silencer, grip, flashlight and IR laser. He flipped down his goggles that were clipped to the front of his helmet that could switch between thermal and night vision. He chose the thermal setting and rushed in with the SCAR pressed into his shoulder. The other five were right behind him with SCARs set up like his also with their goggles pressed to their eyes.

"Clear!" Turbo shouted.

"This is Charlie team we have made it inside the compound," The sergeant said into the mike that was strapped to his helmet and inches from his mouth. "We are moving to rally with Delta team now." The other five Green Berets heard him because he was right there and the through their headphones pressed over their right ears. The six moved into the hallway and speared out three on one side three on the other.

"Watch the ceiling and walls that were they'll be," No sooner had the words left Turbo's then a xenomorph drop from the ceiling and charged the team. Turbo and Batman were up front and were not surprised by this creature nor did they hesitate as they opened fire. The rounds hit the creator and ripped it apart splashing the walls and floor with green acid blood. The six carefully stepped over its body as they moved deeper into the facility. They scanned with their thermal goggles keeping their eyes peeled for more xenomorphs that they were sure were around. They didn't know how such things could exist outside of movies but they weren't trained or paid to know. They were well trained to do one thing: kill any and all threats. They were well aware of these monsters and knew what to expect from them as more jumped at them. All the Green Berets inside the facility knew exactly what they were getting themselves into having been briefed all about xenomorphs.

However a click away from the compound where two privates that were completely unaware of the formidable threat lurking in the corridors of the facility. These privates were not harden Green Berets they weren't even infantry. One was a TMDE repair specialist, his job was to fix equipment others used to fix their equipment. Or as he like to put it a pog for pogs. The other's job was to fix radars. There job that night however, as explained to them, was to patrol the perimeter of the compound so the SF guys could complete a training exercise. They didn't have high speed weapons like the commandos just M16A2s with iron sights. They had live rounds for their weapons sure, but this wasn't their first training exercise where they got live rounds. The TMDE specialist had a M203 launcher attached to his rifle but not because he was a good shot with one. The truth be told he hadn't fired one since basic training over two years ago. His weapon number he was assigned just happen to have one attached making him a grenadier by default. They had not been deployed to the area by roping in from a helicopter but hopped down from the back of a truck after a hour and 45 minute ride.

They didn't have NVGs or even NODs what they did have was Vietnam era elbow flashlights with red lenses clipped to their FLCs. Nor did they each have built in coms like the commandos, but the radar repair had a hand held radio clipped to his vest, which couldn't pick up the Green Berets frequencies. Hell they didn't even have plates in their body armor making it only effective at stopping 9mm rounds. The TMDE specialist didn't have rounds for his M203 that could do any real damage, just three star burst shells for signaling and three flares for illumination. Both wore gas mask that they were told to have on at all times no matter what. The radar repair's filter was on the left side of the mask, like the majority of soldiers he was a right handed shooter. However the TMDE specialist's filter was on the right indicating he was a lefty shooter, even though he was right handed with everything else. The radar repair unclipped his radio(well the radio they let him borrow) and pressed it up to his mask and keyed it.

"This is Roamer 12 checking in at 0230 over," He said loud enough to be heard through his mask.

"This is Central," The voice crackled over the radio said. "Roger that Roamer 12. Central out." He clipped the radio back to his FLC and turned towards the TMDE specialist.

"Hey Z," He said. The TMDE specialist turned his head to look at him as they continued to walk next to the compound's outer fence.

"Yeah," Z said having accepted his nickname long ago since no one seemed to be able to pronounce his last name. The two had gone to the same AIT for training on their completely different jobs and found themselves stuck in the same platoon of the same maintenance unit.

"Why are we here?" The radar repair asked.

"Well Nearmyer my boy," Z said his voice muffled by the mask. "Because we are pog privates the lowest of the low on the totem pole. Someone who outranks the fuck out of us thought it was a good idea to grab us before we could finish dinner chow and have us walk around a fence for five goddamn hours. So some badass hardcore high speed hooah, hooah SF guys can complete a training exercise."

"Oh," Nearmyer said. "I thought you might have volunteered us for this."

"Why the hell would I do that?" Z demanded.

"Because you are a pog and this is the closest thing to combat you will probably ever see," Nearmyer explained.

"You forget one thing buddy," Z explained. "I am a private that is now qualified to drive a Humvee and a sharpshooter with the M2 50 cal. So I will not be doing my job overseas. I will be stuck in a tower or ECP. Granted they won't pick me for missions unless they need an extra diver or gunner for a convoy from a FOB to a COP." Nearmyer chuckled but Z was unable to hear in through his mask. The real reason they were there and didn't know it was to ensure no xenomorphs escaped. The commandos were the ones that were counted on to do the majority of the fighting. Around the inner fence was regular infantry units that we told to be on the lookout hostile and ravenous 'animals'. Then on the outer fence was anyone else command could scrap up and spread out around the perimeter and told it was a training excurse.

"What do you think zombies or mutants?" Nearmyer asked suddenly as they walked.

"What?" Z demanded.

"This place is called Biotech," Nearmyer explained. "I saw the sighs as we approached. Haven't you seen movies nothing good comes from companies called Biotech, Ingin, Biogin or similar shit."

"You're full of it," Z said with the shake of his head. "If they really were making some kind of unholy abominations they wouldn't be using pogs they would be using-"

"Some badass hardcore high speed hooah, hooah SF guys and telling the pogs watching the perimeter that it was just a training excurse?" Nearmyer finished for Z. "Just some food for thought." Z just stared at Nearmyer opened his mouth to say something and then clamped it shut and fell silent as they completed yet another loop around the fence. If they would have been infantry they would have been told to change up their patrol route so an enemy couldn't memorize it. However they were never briefed on this and as far as they knew this really was a training excurse. So they walked the same path at the same speed having actually worn a path into the soft grass, unaware that something had memorized their route and that something was laying a trap for them.

"This company just makes hybrid corn seeds man," Z tried.

"And Umbrella just made pharmaceuticals," Nearmyer shot right back.

"That was a fucking movie," Z countered. Nearmyer just shrugged and the two fell silent again as they continued their patrol. They stayed quiet until Nearmyer took a step with his left foot and instead of it stopping on top of the grass it went through the grass. He gave a yell of surprise as his foot went through followed by his leg and then his body as he pitched forward. Just before he fell all the way through Z looked over and saw his friend at half his normal height just before the ground swallowed him. Nearmyer fell through the grass and landing in one of the many maintenance tunnels that ran underneath the already massive compound. Z jumped back from the large hole that had suddenly opened up in the ground. He clicked his flashlight on and shone the red beam down the hole it landing on Nearmyer's back as he lay on the concrete floor the short distance below him.

"You alright!?" Z shouted down after him bending down to look in the hole.

"Just fucking dandy!" Nearmyer shouted back up a little pain in his voice.

"Stay there I'm going to get help!" Z called down to him.

"Take your time I think I'll just lay here for a moment or two," Nearmyer said. Z was about to turn around then to run and get help since Nearmyer was the one with the radio. When something hit him in the back right between the shoulder blades. It hit him and then bounce off using his back as a spring board. Z was thrown forward as he fell into the hole himself and landed hard next to Nearmyer.

"Sup buddy," Z said sheepishly as the two lay still as they slowly let the pain fade.

"Thanks for the help asshole," Nearmyer said slowly getting up into a kneeling position.

"It's not my fault," Z said still laying face first on the ground. "Something hit me."

"Riiiiiiiight," Nearmyer said getting to his feet and then pulling Z to his. As Nearmyer looked up at the hole Z walked over to where his flashlight lay and picked it up. He then walked over to where Nearmyer stood and shone his light up at the hole. They were in a concrete tunnel with pipes and conduits running along the sides and ceiling the only light coming from the moon light from the hole and Z's flashlight.

"What the hell?" Z asked as he looked up at the hole that was ten feet above their heads. The ceiling was eight inch thick concrete but a large hole had been cut through it but the dirt and grass was left untouched to conceal the hazard.

"If I didn't know any better I say something dissolved the concrete," Nearmyer said clicking on his own flashlight and pointed at the rough edges of the concrete around the hole.

"Think you could boost me up so I can climb out?" Z asked turning to Nearmyer.

"10 feet in full kit?" Nearmyer asked. "Fuck no."

"The radio?" Z asked looking back up at the hole. Nearmyer pulled what remained of the smashed radio from his FLC and held it up so Z could see it. "Fine I'll just do everything then...as usually." He then walked over to where his rifle, with the M203 attached to it, lay and picked it up. Walking back under the hole he slid open the M203 pulled a star burst round from his FLC and placed it inside the large tube and slammed it shut. Z then pointed it straight up the hole and fired it into the night sky the M203 making a solid thump. A second later a red ball of bright light appeared in the sky and half a second later it split to five smaller red balls before burning out, it only lasted for a second.

Z slide open the launcher again ejected the smoking shell and slipping in a flare shell this time. He fired this one into the sky as well and when this one popped it spawned an orange ball of light that was suspended by a small parachute to keep it aloft. The flare illuminated a large area centered on the hole the two had fallen down. Z then launched a second star burst to complement the flare.

"Somebody had to have seen that," Z said turning back to Nearmyer as the flare burned in the night sky.

"Yeah," Nearmyer agreed as the two stared up at the flare. They stood in silence as the flare burned, even when it burned out the two continued to stare up at the hole. When the sound of boots crunching on grass reached the two privates' ears, the quick succession of crunches told them the boots were running. Z loaded another star burst, he last one, and pointed the M203 up through the hole. He waited for five whole heart beats letting the boots get closer before he fired it up into the sky. A few seconds after it had burned out two faces covered by gas masks and heads protected by helmets appeared over the hole's edge as their hands shone red flashlight beams that landed on the two. Another pair of roamer pogs.

"You two alright down there!?" One of them called down.

"Yeah but we could use a little help!" Nearymer shouted back.

"How'd you two get down there?!" The other one asked.

"We'll tell you _after _you get us out of here!" Z shouted up.

"Alright hang on," The first rescuer said. "Don't get your panties in a bunch." He then plucked his radio from his FLC, held it up to his mask and was about to key it when something tackled him. Down in the hole all Nearymer saw was a black shape slam into one of their would be rescuers.

"What the fuck was that?!" Nearymer shouted up. The other roamer turned around raising his rifle to his shoulder.

"Holy shit!" He shouted as he fired a three round burst at something Z and Nearymer couldn't see from their angle. Another black shape hit the other roamer from behind causing him to fire a second burst into the dirt. Their screams of pain and anguish floated down to the two helpless privates in the hole.

"What's going on up there!?" Z demanded as the two raised their own rifles and pointed them up at the hole. The screams suddenly stopped and everything got very quiet very quickly making the two pogs very nervous as they stared up at the hole with shouldered rifles. Something dropped down through the hole and the two opened fire hitting it with several three round bursts as it fell. When it landed on the ground in front of them they both continued to shoot until their bolts locked back on empty magazines. They still pulled their triggers even as no rounds spat from the ends of their barrels. Nearymer was the first to snap out of it slapping Z on the shoulder.

"Hey man I think we got it," He said. Z slowly lowered his rifle smoke still coming from the end of the barrel.

"Yeah I think you're right," Z said as he pulled out his empty magazine and placed it in a empty pouch on his FLC. He pulled out a full one shoved it home and hit the bolt release snapping it forward. Nearymer followed Z's lead and reloaded himself. The two slowly advanced on the thing that had fallen through the hole having to pass under it to reach it. Z shone his flashlight's beam on it and gasped felling bile rise in his throat.

"My god," Nearymer gasped. It was the body of one of the roamers that had come to their aid. His uniform and body was shredded with a large hole punched through his mask and forehead. The two didn't notice that as they were too busy staring at all the bullet holes they had caused.

"Did we?" Z asked unsure how to say what they were both think.

"No," Nearmyer said quickly then became unsure. "No...no he was...no he was already dead." Z swallowed hard then just before he spoke again.

"Then what killed him?" Z asked as the two stared at the body. No sooner had he finished speaking did something else drop down through the hole and landed behind the pair. The two heard it land and wheeled around bring their rifles up.

"You are fucking kidding me!" Z shouted as the two stared at a xenomorph bathed in the red light from his flashlight. It was still half hidden in shadow but they knew what it was none the less. The xenomorph pulled it's lips back into a sneer showing its many sharp teeth as it hissed. The two shifted their aim to draw a bead on it and pull their triggers when it leapt at them. Their rounds hit the ground where the thing had been just a moment before as the xenomorph flew at them. However instead of pounce on them as they thought it would, it went between the two its front claws grabbing one shoulder of each and used them to shoot itself forward even more. A second later it was behind them on the ground and they turned just in time to see it scurrying around a corner.

"Was that?" Z asked.

"Yep," Nearmyer said.

"A fucking?" Z asked to double check.

"Yep," Nearmyer said again.

"Like from the fucking?" Z's final questions.

"Yep," Nearmyer said pulling back his charging handle and checked to ensure there was a round in the chamber. "Well lets go get it." He said starting forward after it.

"Are you fucking nuts?!" Z shouted. "Did you see that thing!?"

"Yeah that's why we have to go after it," Nearymer said strangely clam. "We have the advantage now but soon we won't. Oh and for the record I was fucking right."

"This is not the time for 'I fucking told you so's," Z said despite his better judgment fell behind Nearmyer. The two rounded the corner with shouldered rifles but the xenomorph had vanished. The two checked the ceiling and walls sweeping all the shadows with their weak flashlights. They still couldn't find it but what they did find was a open door that lead into some kind of mechanical room. Nearmyer was about to move into the room when Z placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Man that room is sending up all kinds of red flags," Z said. "It's dark and confined the perfect place for an ambush." This caused Nearymer to pause for he knew Z was right. It was dark and their weak flashlight could land right on the fucker and they wouldn't see it.

"You've still got two flares left don't you?" Nearymer asked Z.

"I do," Z said knowing where he was going with it. "They're not road flares though I don't know how well they'll work burning on the ground. I say we try to find a way up and outside." Nearymer stared at the dark room for a long while, as Z shifted his weight from foot to foot.

"Just humor me and shoot one in there," Nearymer said at last. Sighing Z loaded a flare into the M203, put the rifle butt against his hip and aimed it through the door.

"After I do this, then we find a way out right?" Z asked looking at Nearymer.

"Sure," Nearmyer said shoulder his rifle and taking aim at the door. Sighing Z pulled the trigger on the M203 it making a thump as a orange ball flew and landed in the middle of the room. It sat their for a second and then there was soft pop and the light got brighter and started to smoke light filling the room. Before Z could say anything Nearymer rushed into the room with a shouldered rifle and he had no choice but to rush in and back him up. However before he could make it through the doorway the door slammed shut hitting Z's helmet and knocking him to the ground. Inside the room that was bathed in orange light and fogging with smoke, Nearmyer whipped around as the door slammed shut. He looked up just in time to see a long slender tail knocked the rifle out of his hands, it chattered to the ground somewhere behind him. Now disarmed the xenomorph dropped from its perch near the door. Now bathed in the flickering orange light he could see it clearly.

"My god," Nearymer gasped unable to stop himself. "It's female." Nearymer was right it had womanly curves of a humanoid, slender frame, full breasts, the long head of a xenomorph, black to dark green skin and a long whip like tail. It stood up on its two hind legs and slowly started to circle Nearymer as it pulled its lips back into a sneer and hissed. Nearymer put his hands up and slowly turned to keep it, her in front of him as he slowly started to move back towards his rifle. He was a fool to think she didn't notice as she dropped to all fours and leapt through the air landing on top of his rifle. Nearymer just stared at her as she looked up and hissed at him keeping the rifle underneath her front claws.

"She's fucking toying with me," Nearymer whispered to himself his voice not making it past his mask. He knew the flare was going to burn out soon and then he would be fucking done. He knew fight was out since she had his rifle so it was flight then. He turned on his heel and bolted for the door he didn't even make it halfway as her tail wrapped around his right leg and pulled it out from underneath him. He landed hard on his stomach as she used her tail to flip him over on his back. She pounced on him pining his arms above his head with her front claws her face inches from his mask. Her lips were still pulled back in a sneer as she opened her mouth to reveal her signature second mouth. He had seen this many times in the movies soon she would drive that mouth through his forehead and kill him instantly. Instead she head butted him hard enough to cause him to see red stars even with his helmet and mask. Before he could even start to recover she hit him again while he was still dazed and this time he saw white stars just before he blacked out as the flare finally burned out.

Outside in the corridor Z had finally recovered from being hit in the face with a thick metal door and slowly got to his feet. He jogged, almost falling over, to the door and went for the door knob and tried it. It was locked and could only be opened from the inside or with a key he didn't have. Out of options he pounded on the door with his right fist.

"Nearmyer open the door man!" Z shouted wishing he could take his mask off. When he got no response he tried again. "Nearmyer man! You ok?!" Knowing that was a stupid fucking question he started to pound again. There was a soft thud as something gracefully landed behind him. Z stopped pounding as he felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. He knew it was behind him, right behind him but he also knew if he turned around it would pounce. He heard a low growl and then a hiss and he felt whatever it was get closer. Since it hadn't already ripped his face off Z was starting to feel like it had an alternative motive. An idea suddenly struck him and it was both stupid and suicidal: surrender. Z slowly raised his arms into the air holding his rifle with his left hand only, the barrel pointed at the ceiling. A slender tail shot out and wrapped around the rifle and ripped it from his grasp. He heard it chatter on the ground somewhere behind him and knew it was all over for him as he kept his arms in the air. The tail returned and wrapped around his left wrist and he was roughly forced to turn around by it and Z got his first good look at his captor.

It was another female xenomorph it's appearance the same as the one that had knocked out Nearmyer and it had him by the wrist with her long tail. She slowly advanced on him still maintaining control of his wrist. She got so their faces were inches apart as she hissed. Her tail released his wrist and wrapped itself around his neck and brought the two even closer so her face was touching his mask. She raised a claw balled into a fist above her head and brought it down lightening fast on top of his helmet. Despite the protective piece of equipment Z still saw stars before he blacked out and slumped down only held up by her tail.


	2. Feeling high

When Nearmyer awoke his head was swimming and he went to bring a hand up to rub it but he couldn't He snapped out of his haze then. He was in a boiler room that was lit by a few bare light bulbs that casted harsh shadows. He was stuck to a wall with some kind of sticky alien goop. His arms as legs were spread out so he looked like that dawning Da Vinci had done of the man in the wheel but covered in alien goop. He had seen this part it just about every movie and quickly looked for the others that would also be pinned to the wall and could find no one else. He then looked for the eggs that would birth the creatures that would bring his life to a painful and prolonged end. Again he couldn't find any and this concerned him even more because now he didn't know how he was going to die. In the movies someone would suddenly burst in and save him from his fate but unlike the movies no one knew he was down here and if they did he was just a private they wouldn't risk a rescue operation for him. Then he remembered Z he was still out there. Maybe he would find him and save him and maybe he would win the state lottery and retire at age 21. The sound of sharp claws scratching on masonry walls forced him back into an alert state as he tried to see where his death would come from.

Nearmyer was half right Z was still out there and he would very soon find him but he was in no position to help. He was still out cold his legs over the shoulder of the female xenomorph his hands above his head as she steadily dragged him down a corridor. She dragged him down a single step and when his head went from the higher elevation to the lower one his helmet made a thunk sound. The impact of his head and sound it made stirred him from his sleep. He was still groggy and unaware he was being dragged till his head hit a piece of the ceiling that had chipped off long ago and no one had bother to pick up. When it did he realized he was being dragged and lifted his head up to see by what. He saw the back of the xenomorph and her tail swishing in the air and remember everything at once and that it wasn't a bad dream. His right hand went for his thigh were his pistol holster would be but instead it touched only ACU trousers. That's when he remember he was just a pog and didn't get a pistol holster yet alone a pistol.

He let his head fall back to the ground and let the monition of being dragged slowly move his arms above his head again. He stayed like that for awhile when he remembered his knife that was under his ACU top clipped to his belt. He reached up to his belt and pulled it free flicking it open as he brought it up to the lenses of his mask so he could see it clearly. It wasn't a combat knife just a four inch boot knife he kept on him at all times for how handy it was. Z never thought he could really kill a human effectively with it let alone a goddamn xenomorph. He decide to go out swinging as he sat up with the xenomorph still holding his legs as he attempted to bring the knife down into her back. Her tail shout out and wrapped around his wrist that held the knife stopping it cold. She stopped then and dropped his feet so he now lay on his back. She turned around still holding his wrist with her tail and pounced on top of him pinning his other arm with a claw. She then squeezed her tail tighter the pain causing Z to drop the knife. Once he was disarmed she released his wrist with her tail and instead pinned it with her other claw her face inches from his mask again.

"What the fuck do you want?!" Z shouted in frustration. The xenomorph pulled her lips back and sneered again just before she let out a long deep breath right into his mask her breath fogging up the lenses. She stayed like that breathing heavily right into his mask as Z was unsure of what she was doing. She suddenly pulled her head back and it cocked to the side in an inquisitive nature. She looked at him, his mask and his helmet bring her head in closer again before pulling it back. After a few moments of that she let out a low growl that made Z very nervous. She used her tail to pin his arm down by wrapping it around a wrist again to free up a claw. She then reached up with it and grabbed his helmet from behind his head and tried to pull it free. The chinstrap fought her however and all she succeed in doing was crane Z's neck and get him to produce gagging noises. She let out a frustrated hiss as she let go of his helmet and used a sharp nail to cut the chinstrap nicking Z's neck causing him to hiss in pain. This time she was able to remove his helmet and toss it behind her.

That complete she grabbed the front of his gas mask and pulled. The mask was lifted from his face as it was unsealed but the straps around the back of his head refused to let go. His head left the floor as the straps were stretched and he wondered what was going to give first his neck or the straps. Just when he thought his neck was going to snap one of the elastic straps snapped first and the mask was fully ripped from his face then, his head snapped back and hit the floor rather hard. The xenomorph held it up to her own face and seemed to look at even though Z couldn't see any eyes of any kind. She then tossed it over her shoulder and placed her claw onto his arm again her face now inches from his now completely bare face. She exhaled another of those deep breaths from before, right into his unprotected face. Instead of smelling extremely foul as he thought it would it was sweet smiling. In fact it was the sweetest, nicest, most pleasant thing he had ever smelt. And as it filled his nose and lungs he felt his body completely relax despite the obvious danger. Not tried but relaxed as if he was stoned and his eyes even glazed over.

The xenomorph tested the effects of the gas she had just breathed on him by completely getting off of him. Nothing held him down yet he didn't run, in fact he didn't want to he was very content with where he was. Satisfied that her prey was subdued she picked up his legs and threw them over her shoulder again, as her tail snaked around so it cradled his neck to keep the unprotected back of his head from scrapping along the floor. She started to drag him again this time he did nothing as his arms slowly stretched out so they were above his head again. Z felt good, he felt extremely good, he didn't care a xenomorph was dragging him through an unknown facility for an unknown porpoise. He even started to hum quietly to himself as she dragged him deeper into the facility.

Back in the boiler room Nearmyer searched for the source of the noise. He found it as a xenomorph's face came into view just inches from his mask. Despite the fact that it was a xenomorph's face he still saw that there was something odd about it then he had it, it was upside down. He felt sharp claws and nails gently poke his body as she crawled down his body her swishing tail lightly brushing his mask as she crawled down him and to the floor. Once on the floor she stood on her hind legs and seemed to look him over as she approached him. She moved her face closer to his again her lips parting as she opened her mouth tiny droplets of saliva falling to the floor. He tried to pull his head back but all he could do with the goo restricting his movement was turn it to the side slightly. She pressed her face to his mask placing her claws on his shoulders and exhaled a deep gently breath. She did this a few times until his lenses were fogged over. After that she let go of him and backed away slight getting onto all fours. She then did something that caused Nearmyer's breath to hitch in his chest. She used her head to softly muzzle his groin, in a very gentle and loving manner. His body tensed up immediately as he was unsure of what to do or how to feel.

She seemed to since he had tensed up and stopped backing away for him with what sounded like a purr to him. Seeing her back away allowed him to relax a little and exhaled the breath he had been holding. His heart however beat a mile a minute inside his chest and just as it started to return to normal she moved in on him again. She placed her hands on his shoulders again causing his heart to spike back up. She pressed her face to his mask again and exhaled a few more deep smooth breaths fogging up his mask once again. She backed away again getting down on all fours and started to swish her tail, to Nearmyer in an excited manner or maybe it was anticipation. After a few moments she advanced on him once again and muzzled his groin as he tensed up again. This seemed to upset her and she backed off again and let out a hiss of frustration. She then moved up to him quickly and placed her face to his mask again and exhaled again this time a little more aggressively than the other times. Nearmyer was now sure he was going die soon when the sound of cheerful singing filled the boiler room causing both Nearmyer and the xenomorph to look at the source.

It was Z who was still being drug by the other female xenomorph. Nearmyer just stared at Z as he used the tune of _The battle hymn of the republic _but the words were of a very old running cadence that was very fitting for the current situation.

"Gory, gory what a helluva way to die!" Z was singing as she drug him to where the other xenomorph held onto Nearymer. "Gory, gory what a helluva way to die! Gory, gory what a helluva way to die. And he ain't gonna jump no more!"

"Z!" Nearymer shouted in disbelief. Hearing his friend's voice he turned to face Nearmyer as the xenomorph dragging him finally let him go.

"Nearmyer!" Z said happily still laying on the floor. "Sup buddy?!"

"Z are you all right?" Nearmyer asked.

"I feel fucking fantastic," Z said rolling his head around on the ground.

"What'd she do to you man?" Nearmyer asked putting things together quickly.

"I dunno man but it's fucking awesome," Z said throwing his hands up and letting them fall back to the ground. Z fell quieted then and started to hum to himself again. Nearmyer hadn't notice that the xenomorph that had been holding his shoulders had left and was on all four facing the one that had brought Z into the boiler room. Nearmyer thought they might be discussing something with the way their tails moved. He tried to remember how they were supposed to communicate. Was it by hissing? That didn't sound right he tired to remember maybe it was telepathically that sounded about right. He remember something about a hive mind but couldn't remember anything for sure. But did it really matter? At that moment in time to Nearmyer it did not. The two xenomorphs sat facing each other their tails swishing through the air as they spoke using their minds. The two suddenly looked over at Z who was still laying on his back humming to himself drawing in the air with one of his fingers. The two aliens then looked over at Nearmyer who hung from the wall his heart hammering in his chest, before they looked at each other. The one that had captured Nearmyer advanced on him again standing on two legs. She got extremely close again but instead of placing her hands on his shoulders she used a nail to cut his helmet's chinstrap before she pulled it off his head. She then reached under his chin and grabbed a hold of his gas mask and pulled it up and off, painlessly and a lot easier than the other had done to Z.

With the mask gone his unprotected face was just inches from her face as she turned her head to the side and seemed to look him in the eyes. She cooed softly as she touched the side of his face with a claw and slowly slid it down his neck till it reached his shoulder. Nearmyer tensed up again his heart pounding in his chest as her other hand grabbed his other shoulder. She opened her mouth again and exhaled a smooth breath, this time the sweet gas was able to make it to his lungs. As the pleasant sent filled his lungs and nose he felt his body completely relax, his heart rate returning to normal as he became like Z. He took a deep breath in, unable to get enough of the sweet aroma. She took a step back and this time when she muzzled his groin he remained still and relaxed and this made her purr. The other xenomorph saw this and hissed in anger causing her to stop muzzling and flip around and hiss back. The two stared at each other their tails swishing in the air as the two spoke using their minds. The one that had been muzzling Nearmyer bowered her head respectfully for she knew she had done wrong. She knew better than to get ahead of herself before the two were approved. The other xenomorph went back over to Z as the one that had captured Nearmyer started to cut him down from the wall. The one by Z looked behind to ensure the other was busy with her human before turning to look at Z again.

Z was in his own world humming to himself as the xenomorph muzzled the side of his face with the side of her head. Her skin felt moist, cool and smooth on his check. She then ran a claw over his head her fingers moving through his short, military regulation, hair as she purred softly. A thud behind her snapped her out of it as she looked behind her to see that her sister had freed her human. She quickly moved away from Z as she had to set the right example for her sister. Her sister had Nearmyer's legs over her shoulder and his head held up by her tail as she started to drag him. She picked Z up again in the same way and started to drag him at a quick pace to catch up with her sister. Soon they were walking side by side dragging their prizes behind them. The two privates where side by side also and turned to look at each other. Nearmyer was the first to started to smile as Z soon joined him, but Z was the one that started to laugh first. Soon Nearmyer joined in, it seem their current situation was funny to them after the gas had taken effect. The two stopped laughing and turned to look up at the ceiling slowly go sliding by. They remained silent for awhile theirs arms stretched above their heads which were head aloft but their captors' tails. It was Z who started to sing again.

"Sometimes I feel like I don't have a partner," Z sang loudly. "Sometimes I feel like my only friend is the city I live in, the city of angles."

"Lonely as I am, together we cry," Nearmyer sang joining in and cutting Z off. Here they both paused the right number of beats before singing in unison.

"I drive on her streets cause she's my companion," They sang together loudly. "I walk through her hills cause she knows who I am. She sees my good deeds and kisses me windy. I never worry, now that is a lie." Here they paused the right amount of time again. "I don't ever wanna feeeeeeeeellllll like I did that day! Take me to the place I looooovvvvvveeeeeee! Take me all the way! I don't ever wanna feeeeeeeeellllll like I did that day! Take me to the place I looooovvvvvveeeeeee! Take me all the waaaaaayyyyy! Yeeeaaaaah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!" The two xenomorphs didn't seem to mind as they dragged the two singing humans through the twisting corridors.

Inside of a large storeroom the size of a hanger on top of a heating vent sat the alien queen. Around her were her eggs and other xenomorphs, both male and female that catered to her every whim. The fact that there were numinous humans in the compound above killing her offspring didn't seem to bother her in the slightest. She was waiting on the two sisters to return with their choices and was starting to become impacting when loud and obnoxious singing reached her ears.

"Under the bridge downtown!" Z was belting.

"Is where I drew some blood!" Nearmyer sang right behind Z.

"Under the bridge downtown!" Z sang again.

"I could not get enough!" Nearmyer finished.

"Under the bridge downtown!"

"Forgot about me love!" The queen was in no mood of this foolishness and let out a long loud growl immediately shutting the two pogs up. The sisters laid the two humans before the queen and backed away bowing their heads respectfully. The two friends look up at the massive alien and started to snicker again.

"I think it's going to eat us," Nearmyer said unable to stop giggling.

"Dude her head is fucking huge," Z remarked as he started to chuckle himself. The queen exhaled in disgust at the two, their first impressions were not impressing her much. She used her long tail to wrap both of Nearmyer's legs and lifted him upside down into the air and close to her face. He was scrawny even for a human and very young having just reached adulthood not too many years ago and still had some maturing to do. She used two finger nails to gently open his left eye as she peered into. He had decent eye sight for a human and his pheromones gave off a pleasant scent. She then opened his mouth and looked inside, next came the ears, all passed her inspection. A suitable choice for a mate to be sure but why chose him when there were many other more suitable mates out there. She lowered Nearmyer back to the ground and picked up Z in the same manner and repeated her examination. She found him suitable as well but again wondered why he was chosen over the others, especially to be chosen be the sisters. The two most worthy offspring she had birthed so far. She set Z back down and then ran her tail between their legs gently brushing their groins. This changed her opinion of the two for the better, but not by much. She approved of them and it was a good thing for the two soldiers for if she hadn't they would have become hosts and what had remained of their bodies would have been used for food. The sisters hurried over to their new mates their tails swishing happily behind them. The one that had captured Z used the tip of her tail to gently cut a mark on his forehead drawing a symbol that marks him as hers. The other sister did the same to Nearmyer drawing a similar but a different symbol and present them to the queen one last time. She nodded in approval and the sisters grabbed their mates and headed out of the room back into the corridors. As the two soldiers were dragged down the corridor, still feeling the effects of the gas, Z turned to Nearmyer.

"Hey man I think I'm gonna fail my next UA," Z said to Nearmyer who had turned to look at him when he had started talking. The two thought this was hilarious and laughed uncontrollably at the joke, and probably true fact. Nearmyer stopped laugh sudden which caused Z to stop as the two stared at each other.

"You always were an asshole Gorman," Nearmyer said in a serious tone and straight face. Z just stared at Nearmyer unsure of what to say. Nearmyer held it together it for a second longer before he burst out laughing again, Z joining in soon afterward. Once they had stopped laughing Z was ready with his line.

"Game over man. Game over," Z said starting to laugh right away. Nearmyer couldn't stop laughing as that line had been prefect, he was upset he hadn't thought of it first. The two laughed for a long while unable to stop their sides hurting and tears streamed from their eyes. They got it together as they let themselves be dragged by their captors. The two xenomorph sisters didn't understand why they thought what they had just said was so funny. The four reached a T junction and the two sister went in opposite directions.

"See you later Z," Nearmyer said still feeling the effects of the gas.

"Call me," Z said back as the two grew father apart causing them to both giggle again.


	3. Venom in their veins

As Z was dragged down the corridor the effects of the gas had started to wear off. Not enough for him to even think about struggling but enough for him to start noticing important things again. Like the fact that a xenomorph was dragging him through dimly lit corridors and that Nearmyer was no longer with him. These things didn't practically concern him though as he let himself be drug. Up ahead loomed a doorway who's door was already open. She dragged him through and once they were inside she stopped support his head with her tall and used it to slam the door shut. She let go of Z's legs letting him lay on his back as she went off into a corner. Z managed to get himself awkwardly into a sitting position and looked around. It was some kind of janitor's office complete with a desk, shelves of cleaning supplies, work bench, sink and a standalone toilet. There was even a small cot that someone had dragged into there so they could take naps when they were supposed to be working.

Z rubbed the back of his head as it started to clear a little more to the point where he looked at the door and started to maul he options over in his head. He looked back at the xenomorph and found her already looking at him. She advanced on him slowly on all fours cooing softly her movements graceful and fluid. He stared at her unable to look away seeing a kind of beauty in her and her movements. She moved in so their faces were just about touching, Z was getting used to this, slowly, with how many times she had done it. Instead of sneering and hissing like he was used to, she purred softly rubbing her face against the side of his face. This made him very uncomfortable as the effects of the gas were almost gone now. He tried to get up and back away but she gently yet forceful pushed him over so he was on his back again. Before the gas had completely worn off she crawled on top of him pining his arms with her claws as she sat on his stomach. She looked up at the ceiling as the glands in her mouth released their venom into her mouth as she mixed it with her saliva. Once she felt the mixture was right she looked back at her mate's face as he stared up at her. He opened his mouth perhaps to say something when she let the venom-saliva mixture drip from her mouth into his. It landed in the back of his mouth and he went to turn his head to spit it out when she grabbed his chin preventing him from doing so. She held his head until he was forced to swallow it.

The gas these female xenomorphs produced where to quiet(well in the case of the two soldiers make 'em musical) and subdue their prey, while the venom was to get done what needed to be done. After she was sure he had swallowed it she got off of him and went in the direction of the cot. Z sat up, got onto all fours and started to cough in a futile attempt to get whatever she put in him out. As it started to course through him he felt his body temperature rise as sweat burst from his pores. He moved to a sitting position again as he fumbled with his FLC's zipper and clips and removed it. He tossed it into a corner the full magazines making a heavy chattering. There was a tab on his body armor that when pulled caused it to fall apart around him. It was meant so a medic could pull it and begin treatment right away. It was a pain in the ass to put back together though and should only be used in emergencies. He didn't care as he pulled it any way his vest falling apart around him. It still wasn't enough as sweat poured from his body as he unzipped his ACU top and removed it so he wore only his tan t-shirt, ACU trousers and boots. He was about to even remove those when the heat suddenly passed.

Z flopped back down on his back and lay their panting heavily his heart hammering in his chest string the venom through his veins even faster. A feeling started to grow in the back of his mind, until it had started to consumed every thought and impulse. It was the feeling of longing and lust that caused his eyes to dilate and foam to form at his mouth and drip onto the floor. It was such a strong feeling that he could run through a brick wall if need be. He sat up as the feeling burned inside of him until it was all he could think about. He looked around wildly for the one that had did this to him, and found her. She was waiting on the cot partially laying on her back and partially on her side. She was looking at him her head was propped on one of her hands with a leg that was bent up at the knee her foot behind her other knee so he had a prefect view of her sex. Her tail was behind her and snaked it way so it was hanging off the cot hanging below her the end swinging gently back and forth just missing the floor. The venom had heighten his senses he could hear his own blood pumping through his veins as he admired her curves, full breasts and ample butt. It had increased his sense of smell above all else and he could smell her pheromones. That's what drove him over the edge, what caused him to need her that goddamn second. He fumbled with his boot laces trying to get them untied so he could pull them off. Every once in awhile he would look up to make sure she hadn't moved and every time she hadn't her tail still gently swinging. He finely pulled both his boots off and pulled his belt lose not able to get his pants off fast enough. The last thing he removed was his boxers his massive erection springing up. He got to his feet and ran towards her a little more foam dripping from his mouth, a side effect of the venom.

She saw him approach and turned so she was laying completely on her back and arched it slightly to prepare herself. Z reached her and he did not falter didn't even think twice, the venom had made sure of that. He climbed on top of her and only paused to position his member so the tip was pressing against her slit. He thrusted fully into her and gasped as she cooed in pleasure. She was so soft, so moist and so tight he had never felt anything like it. Her vaginal muscles pulsated and pulled at his penis as he started to thrust. There was no going slow or working into it he started thrusting fully and as fast as he could. There was nothing gentle or loving about this action it was nothing but instinct for him as he thrusted wishing he could somehow go faster. Her arms wrapped around his back and she pulled him closer so their chests were touching and she rested her chin on his shoulder. Her tail wrapped around his waist and then back under her back tying the two together. She started to hiss in pleasure into his ear as he leaned in to kiss her neck as he took in her sweet aroma unable to get enough. He kept up his fevered pace as she started to circle her hips causing him to feel her in all new ways.

It wasn't enough for Z as he stopped thrusting momentarily but didn't withdraw himself. He leaned back again breaking their embrace as she looked at him in a perplexed manner. She wondered if she had not given him enough venom when he wrapped his arms around her back and picked her up. She was lighter than he had thought but heavier than he had dared to hope. He walked the short distance to the nearest wall and slammed her back into it a little more forcefully they he had meant to. This startled her and caused her to think that she might have used to much venom. With her back braced against the wall he started to thrust fully again at an upward angle. The new angle allowing him to go even deeper as he returned to his fevered pace. It was clear she hadn't expected this put found it even more enjoyable. She wrapped her arms around his back as well as her legs crossing her ankles just below his ass. Her tail wrapped around both their waists and pulled them closer as she rested her head on his shoulder again cooing in pleasure. Fluids from her stimulated slit poured onto his thighs as she started to near her climax.

It still wasn't enough for him as he thrusted as fast as he could with her cooing into his ear as he breathed in her aroma. He looked back at the cot, and still thrusting, carried her over to it and sat her down on it. He pushed her back so she was laying on her back with her legs in the air. Placing her legs on his shoulders he grabbed her hips and started to thrust as fast as he could go, finally starting to feel something building inside of him. Her tail snaked its way up his back and cured over his shoulder the excess hanging down and resting on his chest. She arched her back allowing him to go deeper and his hands to grab her ass feeling her smooth cool skin. He then pushed her father onto the cot and laid on top of her returning to their original position. He was close now as he started to thrust more forcefully the sound of his thighs hitting hers making a wet smack. She suddenly arched her back as high as she could lifting them from the cot as she let out a loud hiss as she climaxed. When she did she dug her nails into his back lightly scratching it as her vaginal muscles spasms gently massaged his penis. The pain mixed with the pleasure pushed him over the edge, he thrusted as hard as he could then. He had never came so much in his life as seven burst of seamen shot from the tip of his penis into her, the excess spilling out of her and down her thighs. With that release the feeling that had consumed him started to subside after long last. He finally stopped as he just lay on top of her as they held each other both panting heavily he enjoyed more of her scent. Z's core muscles and thighs were sore and he was afraid to look at his dick after what he had just put it through.

He withdrew his now soften member and rolled onto his back breathing heavily wondering how he could have just done what he just did. She crawled on to him resting her head on his chest her tail tying them together again as she purred softly. He looked at her as she muzzled her head under his chin and saw her as truly beautiful. The thought surprised him and he scolded himself but the half of his mind that found her as beautiful won out as he started to gently rub her head. Her breathing became deep, even and slow causing Z to think she had fallen asleep. He himself was very tired, exhausted in fact after what they had just done and closed his eyes. Just before he drifted off to sleep he wrapped his arms around her and inhaled through his nose taking in her scent one last time.

In the opposite direction of the office was a locker room that was being turned into a break room. High lockers lined the walls with short wooden benches running between them. The floor was tiled and was originally white but had been stained a light brown that was darker around the benches. There was a small area that was carpeted where a table and four chairs stood, along with a couch that sat facing a wall where a TV mount was set however the TV wasn't installed yet. There was a counter complete with a sink and unplugged microwave along the wall near the couch. On the carpeted section of floor the other sister sat K9 style with her tail wrapped around her as she watched her mate. Nearmyer was on all four trying to cough up the venom she had just put in to him, like Z had tried. Also like Z he was unsuccessful and started to sweat as the venom pumped through his veins. She watched as he removed an outer layer of skin and then pulled at his chest his exoskeleton fell off of him and to the floor. Then she remembered humans didn't have exoskeletons and used garments and cloth for their protection.

After removing his FLC and body armor Nearmyer unzipped his ACU top and removed it in his frizzy pulled his tan undershirt off as well. As like with Z the heat pass as his body normalized and he fell onto his back the sweat already starting to dry. He lay there for awhile as his would be mate watched him the tip of her tail lifting up and falling back to the floor in a rhythmic manner. Unlike her sister she didn't give Nearmyer nearly as much as her sister had given Z. Still the feeling of lust had started to grow in him. It didn't consume him like it did Z but he found it impossible to ignore. He sat up and looked at her his eyes dilated and foam drying in the corners of his mouth. She knew he was ready them, as she moved over to him on all fours purring softly. He watched the graceful way she approached and felt himself stiffen his erect member pushing against his constricting pants. He never would have thought about exposing himself in front of such a deadly creature but with the venom moving through him he didn't care. He pulled his boots off and had started at his belt when he smelt a sweet aroma. He looked up and saw that she had gotten very close and this caused him to pause as her scent filled his nose. Her hands gripped his belt and she gently loosened it the rest of the way for him. He stared at her as she pulled his pants off exposing his erection only kept in check by his underwear. She gently muzzled his member with her head and he sighed in pleasure as he leaned back placing his hands behind his back.

She then pulled his underwear off freeing his erect member and she muzzled it with her face. She wrapped a hand around it and slowly started to move it up and down his shaft. Nearmyer sighed in pleasure again as her smooth skin felt amazing on his sensitive organ. He closed his eyes as she sped up her hand. He then felt a warm breeze on his groin and then moisture as the heat increased. He felt something gently tugging at his penis and opened his eyes to see her head bobbing up and down his dick in her mouth. A thought suddenly struck him: Which mouth is she using? He quickly pushed it out of his mind as he placed a hand on her head and helped her with the motion. She started to speed up and he grunted as it felt good, too good if she kept it up he'd finish soon. She seemed to since this and stopped pulling her head up so he could see the light reflect off of his saliva coated dick. She moved so she was laying on her back and he sat up again watching her graceful movements. Her tail shot out and wrapped around his neck, this caused him to start to tense up. However it wasn't tight enough to restrict any air as she gently pulled him closer to her. He was forced to crawl over to her as she pulled him by the neck and position his head so his face was inches from her womanhood. Guessing she wanted him to return the favor her leaned in closer her tail still around his neck.

He could smell her pheromones and this casted out every remote feeling of doubt the venom hadn't already gotten rid of. As he started to lick at her fold one last thought popped into his head. He couldn't imagine males of her kind being able to do what he was doing so how/where did she get the idea? It didn't matter to him as he tasted her, she tasted even better then she smelt. She was purring loudly as she placed a hand on the back of his head to complement her tail. He added two of his fingers and she really started to purr then as she rolled her head along the floor. She was focused so much on what his tongue and fingers were doing to her that she forgot about her tail and it loosened. Nearmyer felt it loosen and lifted his head up as he moved into a kneeling position sitting on his heels. She looked up at him and was about to use her tail to pull his head back so he continue, when he grabbed her waist and pulled her closer to him. The tip of his member was now pressed against her slit as he paused to look at her, she gave a curt nod that he took as a go ahead. Instead of thrusting he pulled her onto his dick and fell backwards so she was on top of him.

It was clear she wasn't expecting this as she didn't do anything for a moment and then started she to bounce up and down. He placed his hands on her hips and helped her out as she slowly circled her hips Nearmyer exhaling a breath in pleaser as she purred. He started to thrust upwards in time with her as they both steadily increased their pace. He wrapped his arms around her back and bent her closer so he could kiss her neck and smell her sweet, sweet aroma. Instead of bounce she moved her hips only sliding them up and down his slick dick as her fluids leaked onto the floor. Their speed reached a fevered pitch as they both started to near their climaxes. Before they did she pushed herself free of his grasp and spun herself around so she was facing the opposite direction. She leaned forward again and he could feel her breasts pressing against his legs as she used her hips to slid up and down his penis. This new position gave him a great view of her ass and he quickly seized it with both hands and helped her with the motion again.

He wasn't going to last much longer and by her purring neither was she as her tail wrapped around his back and pulled him into a sitting position. She then moved onto all fours as he grabbed her hips and started to thrust as hard as he could. He let out a grunt as he came inside of her thrusting as deep as he could and holding it there as seamen flowed from his dick. She came right behind him hissing loudly as she did so. Their fluids mixed together as they flowed from her slit and onto the floor. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her back as he sat back down so she was sitting on his lap. He kissed her neck as his hands gently massaged her breast inhaling her scent. She purred softly as she rubbed her head under his chin. He felt very comfortable with her so close to him, something he felt completely opposite only an hour ago. Exhaustion stated to over take him as he eased himself down onto the floor pulling her with him. He held her tight as he started to drift off into sleep wondering what the consequences were of what he had just done. If he was being honest with himself he didn't care as her aroma filled his nose one last time just before he drifted off to sleep.


	4. Gifts

Nearmyer awoke sometime later his eyes flying open as he sat up sharply knocking the blanket that was on him off. He couldn't remember having put a blanket on himself as he woke up a little more and found himself on the couch when he remembered having gone to sleep on the floor with her. He was fully awake then as he no longer felt her pressed against him and more importantly he no longer smelt her scent. As he swung his legs over the couch and onto the floor he figured she must have moved him to the couch and covered him with the blanket. His throat was incredibly dry and he tried to swallow, but his mouth was just as dry as his throat. He stood up shakily as his body worked on ridding itself of the gas and venom that had been put in it. He walked over to the sink and to his dismay he found it unfinished as bare copper pipes poked through where the faucet should have been. He looked around and spotted his FLC and slowly made his way over to it and pulled his canteen from it pouch and shook it. He sighed as it felt like it was a little under half full, he had drank most of it while he and Z had been on patrol. He unscrewed the cap and finished it off, when it was empty he upended it and shook it just to make sure all the water was gone.

There was a dull thump as a plastic canteen fell to the ground and slid in his direction. He looked up to see that his mate had returned and she had brought the canteen. He looked at it and back at her a little unsure. She used a hand and slid it closer to him as he sat back on her haunches like a K9 again. He picked it up and looked at her as she watched feeling like she might be testing him somehow. She bowed her head slowly and he took this as an 'ok' sign and touched the cap to unscrew it. We he did his fingers felt something wet and slick, he thought it was just water at first but he then found it to be sticky. He removed his fingers and looked at them as saw the tips were red with still wet blood. He gulped as he felt himself tense up, but wasn't as scared as he should have been. He looked at her as he opened the canteen and almost finished it off as well. He put the cap back on and he remembered his was still completely naked expect for his watch on his wrist. He look at the time, it was 0400 and hour and a half had passed since they had fallen through the hole.

He walked over to his cloths and bent over to pick up his underwear off the floor. As he bent over she watched him staring at his awkward and unsmooth movements finding them humorous and yet adorable. She moved up behind him as he pulled his underwear on and bent to put his ACU trousers back on. As he was straightening back up she came up behind him standing on two legs, wrapped her arms around his stomach, resting her chin on his shoulder. He gasped in surprise as he hadn't even heard her approach. He quickly relaxed as her scent filled his nose once again. He even brought a hand up and patted her arm as she muzzled the side of his neck. He could have stayed like that forever her holding him but he had to finish getting dressed. He let go of her arm.

"I need to get dressed now," Nearmyer said not expecting her to understand. Instead she let go of him and backed off returning to all fours allowing him to finish dressing. After he had finished tucking his pants into his boots he stood up and pulled his soft cap, done up in ACU pattern, from his cargo pocket and placed it on his head, odd habits die hard. He sat down on the couch and she immediately sat down next to him and placed her head in his lap and started to purr. He sat there unsure of what to do, with his arm around her gently rubbing her chest as his stomach growled. This caused her to lift her head up in alert as she stared up at him.

"Sorry," He said patting his stomach. "Just a little hungry." She got off the couch and scurried around a corner and disappeared from his view. As soon as she was gone he missed her presence and this surprised him, that he had become so attached to her so quickly, let alone at all. A moment later she returned and his sprits immediately went back up confirming his theory that he was attached to her on some deeper level. A lightweight package landed in his lap and he picked it up, it was an MRE. This one was stained with blood also, however it was dry, and had small holes that looked like bite marks in it. As he turned the packaged over in his hands he realized that maybe she could understand him.

"Can you understand me?" He asked slowly as if dealing with a child or idiot making him blush a little. Her head cocked to the side, she placed a hand on either side of his face and slowly shook her head up and down. Nearymer's heart started to beat fast as he felt a wonderful since of joy despite the fact he was holding an MRE that clearly came from a dead comrade. Seeing her mate so happy made her happy as her tail swished excitedly through the air as he opened the package of food. He pulled out the wheat snack bread, opened it, and started to eat it hungrily smacking his lips loudly. What most would find as annoying she found as assuming as she laid her head in his lap again. His free arm hugged her as he chewed crumbs falling from his mouth and landing on her head. He gently bushed them from her as he reddened again wishing the army hadn't robbed him of his table manners. He wondered if he was going to spend the rest of his life in this locker/break room with this xenomorph bring him food and water? He was strangely at peace with that as long as she was near him he thought. Her tail went up and around his shoulders as he finished the bread shaped, bread like thing and pulled out a package of M&Ms. As he ate them her tail lightly tapped his shoulder and he looked down at her head as she purred softly.

"You want one?" Nearmyer asked shaking the package the M&Ms rattling around inside. She indicated that she did and he put one in his palm and moved it closer to her mouth. Her inner mouth shot out and snatched it up lightening quick, he saw the M&M one second, felt something brush his hand, then there was no M&M. She purred louder and he guessed she liked it so he feed her another one in the same manor. On the third one however he held onto it, between two fingers, and he moved it towards her mouth. She looked at his hand then at him perplexed before she opened her mouth. He gently placed it inside of her inner mouth it closing on his fingers and lightly sucking on them. That along with the memories of earlier fresh in his mind caused him to stiffen again. She lifted her head as she felt his erection press against it and started to purr even louder. She let him remove his fingers so she could muzzle his erection through his pants. He laid his head back against the couch and exhaled a breath, just as she nudged a still tender spot on his member and cause his to winch and hiss in pain. She realized she had caused him pain and immediately stopped and bowed her head in apology.

"It's ok," Nearmyer said placing a hand on the side of her face. "I want to. I just can't right now." She looked back up at him and her tail swished happily through the air. A strong pleasant scent reached his nose and he knew he might not be ready but she was. He set the MRE down and slowly slide his hand down her front till it was just about her slit and he started to rub the area above it in a playful manner. He slipped a pair of fingers into her and felt her moist, softness envelope his fingers. She moved so her back was on the couch and she arched her back so it was closer to him. He moved his face in and started licking her again as her tail wrapped around his back. She knew then she had made the right choice in mate for he didn't want to mate again that soon, but she did. So he would pleasure her concerned about her instead of only himself even without her fresh venom pumping through his veins. She wondered what their offspring would look like and if he would stick around and help raise them to maturity instead of abandon them which was come practice of males of her kind. She let her mind drift back to what he was doing to her as she started to gently thrust her hips unable to get enough of his tongue. She was almost there as she purred loudly. She hissed as she came fluids flowing from her slit, Nearmyer quickly licked them up as he removed his fingers. Once he had cleaned her up he leaned back and smiled.

She curled back up to him and placed her head in his lap feeling the erection he still had press against her face. She muzzled it and he winched in pain again as she touched the same sore spot. She stopped and placed her head on his thighs instead feeling upset she couldn't please him after he just pleased her. He could tell she was upset and wrapped an arm around her waist and he placed a hand on her head again.

"It's ok really," He said gently stroking her head as he rubbed her stomach with his other hand. He was more forgiving then the other males only confirming what she already knew about her choice in mate.

Down the hall in the janitor's office Z held his face under the running water from the sink's faucet. After he drank his fill he turned the water off and straightened up looking at himself in the mirror that was above the sink. He noticed the mark on his forehead for the first time and leaned in closer to get a better look. He touched it with a finger and it stung meaning it was cut into his skin and would form a scar. At first he was momentarily upset that she had marked him like fucking livestock and then a thought he didn't know the origin of popped into his head. She did it to mark him as hers, yet it was more to let the other females know he was spoken for, kind of like a wedding ring. He didn't know where the thought had come from, or how he knew it was the right answer but he did. He felt this more than thought it as he pulled his hand away from his forehead. Like Nearmyer he had awoken to find that his mate was also MIA and he couldn't believe it but he was about to go looking for her. He walked over to where his pants and underwear lay and bent to pick them when he heard the door open, he looked up quickly hoping to see her again.

It was a female xenomorph but it wasn't _his _xenomorph he knew this not from sight but by smell. It was crazy even to him but she didn't smell like her or Nearmyer's either. She advanced on him slowly shutting the door with her tail. Z started to back up as he had a pretty good idea of what her intensions where.

"Hey now," He said putting his hands up. "You're very pretty." He wasn't lying. "But I'm already taken." He pointed at the mark on his forehead now truly hoping he was right about it. She didn't seem to care as she backed him into a corner his still bare ass pressed against the stone wall. She held his shoulders as she pressed her mouth over his and sent her venom directly down his throat. If he thought it had been strong before he was wrong as this one didn't even dilute it with any saliva. The effects were instant as he couldn't stop himself even though he wanted to and his dick was still raw. He would have fucked a tin can full of broken glass if it came down to it. Instead he tackled the unknown female xenomorph with a feral look in his eyes and foam dripping freely from his mouth. His mind had been turned off by the venom and now all that was left was the most basic of instincts.

He started to thrust at an inhuman pace the sound of their smacking bodies echoing through the room. She hissed in pleasure as Z kept up his pace more foam dripping from his mouth and onto her body. He was so out of tune with the world that he didn't notice the return of his mate who sat and watched as he furiously fucked another. She hissed in anger and caused the other female to look up at her as Z continued to thrust. She moved behind the pair and wrapped an arm around Z and pulled him off of her as he tried to hold on to the other female xenomorph. However with the intervention of her tail she was able to pull him free as he trashed around wildly in her arms trying to fuck something. She exhaled a breath of her soothing gas into his face to calm him down. She placed his now limp body back onto the cot as she turned to deal with the one that tried to mate with _her_ mate. The two females squared off getting on to their hind legs and both hissed as they started to circle each other seeing who would make the first move.

It was the intruder who leapt at Z's original mate but she was ready jumping to the side slashing out with her claw hitting the intruder along the side of her face. This caused the intruder to land on her back and roll over once to get onto all fours. She flipped back around and the two hissed at each other again, but the intruder knew she had been beaten. She bowed her head and left with her tail between his legs. Z's mate then turned towards Z to see him setting on the cot, the amount of venom in his veins had counter the effects of the gas but the gas had gotten him so he could control his urges. She moved over closer to him and could smell the venom in him. She was shocked that the amount the other female had used hadn't killed him. Z was in hell now as his heart beat so fast he was sure it was going to pop yet he felt slow and sluggish wanted to do nothing more than lie down. He also had conflicting emotions wanting to screw something anything, but he felt horrible for having betrayed his mate even through it really wasn't his fault. She knew this as she sat down next to him and pulled him so his head was resting on her chest. She then started to purr softly as she gently rubbed the top of his head running her fingers through his hair.

Z felt horrible but her soothing tough and purring started to calm him and make him feel worlds better. His heart rate returned to normal and eventually he felt normal, or as normal one could feel having developed feelings for a xenomorph, again. Feeling that she had brought him comfort she got up leaving him on the cot as she went to grab her gift having dropped it to deal with the intruder. She brought it over to him and placed it in his lap and sat back to see his reaction. She had placed a dead rat in his lap and he picked it by the tail and wondered what she expected him to with it. He looked over at her and that's when his stomach growled and he understood she expected him to eat it.

"Uhm thanks but I'm good," Z said setting it down on the cot. She let out a low growl, picked it up and placed it in his lap again. He could now tell he wasn't going to get a choice in the matter and picked it up. He got up and placed it on the work bench and got dressed as she watched him from the cot. After getting dressed he walked back over to work bench and rummaged around. He found a torch but he couldn't find a damn knife, he touched his belt where his boot knife would have been but he remembered she had taken it. He suddenly felt an arm wrap around him and a chin rest on his shoulder. He relaxed after having tensed up from the sudden contact. He placed a hand on her arm that was wrapped around his shoulders. Her other hand grabbed his hand and he felt something drop into it as their palms touched. He looked at it and saw it was his boot knife that he was forced to drop somewhere in the tunnels. She backed away from him then as he turned the knife over in his hand. He looked at her and then back at the knife as he flipped it open. If he would have been handed that knife earlier he would have tried to kill her as he did earlier but instead he started to skin the rat without a second thought.

He had never done that before with a rat but he had been squirrel hunting and it was similar enough for him to figure it out. He removed the skin, organs, and bones and set them off to the side. He saw her eyeing the pile of gore and he moved it closer to the edge so she was able to pick them up with her mouth and eat them. He didn't find this disgusting as he would normally have, instead finding it perfectly normal. He ignited the torch and started to roast the meat using his knife as a skewer. The high heat of the torch cooked the meat fast as the smell of cooking meat filled the air. He shut the torch off after it was cooked all the way through and sat back on the cot as waited for the rat meat to cool a little. What had her mate done to the food she had brought him? What every it was it smelled a lot better than it had before. She sat next to him and looked at what remained of the rat as steam rose from it. He pulled some off the knife and popped it into his mouth with two fingers.

"Who know something," Z said turning to look at her as he chewed. "This tastes better then the meat the army normally shoves down my throat." She cocked her head to the side for she didn't know what the army was or why they would force food down her mate's throat. She leaned in closer and smelt the cooked rat and her tail moved through the air happily. He saw this picked off a larger piece of the rat and held it close to her mouth. She snatched it up with her inner mouth and marveled at the taste, having tasted better then everything she had eaten so far. He started to hum again and she placed her head in his lap as she started to purr. He stopped humming so he could eat a little more and she stopped purring as she lifted her head to look up at him. He started to hum again and she started to purr again.

"You like that?" Z asked as he gently rubbed her back. She muzzled his chest indicating she did and he found that being able to make her happy made him extremely happy. He thought about the few songs he knew well enough to sing by heart and realized most of them were cadences and could only think of one but he had already sang it. He mentally shrugged before he started to sing.

"Sometimes I feel like I don't have a partner," Z sang softly as he rubbed her back. Her purring increased in pitch and intensity telling him she didn't mind that he had already sang it. "Sometimes I feel like my only friend is the city I live in, the city of angles." Her tail swished happily through the air keeping time with the song as he sang. If he could have heard her thought he would have heard her think: 'sing only for me.' By the time he had finished the song he had finished the rat meat, but his stomach still growled. Hearing that she hopped off the cot and disappeared out of the room and he was left with a empty hole inside of him. As soon as she had returned he was whole once more making him wonder just how attached to her was he? She dropped a second dead rat into his lap and looked up at him. He smiled as he stood up and walked over to the work bench flipping his knife open.

"As long as she doesn't bring me anything from a human to eat I'll be ok," He said more to himself then to her. Do not worry I will not, he thought and set the rat on the bench as was about skin it when he stopped and thought about the thought he just had. He knew it was a thought because he had heard it echo inside of his mind but what caused him to pause was the wording. He had thought: 'do not worry _I _will not' shouldn't he have thought: do not worry _she _will not' instead. Then he wasn't a grammar nazi so it really should have been: '_don't_ worry she _won't_.' His mind puzzled him but after this night it wasn't the strangest thing to happen to him.

"Huh weird," He said out loud to himself again as he shrugged and started to cut into the rat's skin. What is weird? he thought this thought causing him to put down the knife and look around puzzled. Why would he think 'what is weird?', when he was the one that said it and knew exactly what he thought was weird. Yet the thought had gone through his mind clear as a bell and this caused him some concern as he thought he might be losing his sanity. Do you hear me? was his next thought only confusing him more and then his eyes widened as he turned around to look at his mate. She was sitting on her haunches watching him her tail wrapped around her but her head was cocked to the side as she looked perplexed. She stood up onto her hind legs and walked over to him standing in front of him and held his face in both her hands she purred softly. You hear me do you not? was the next thought that went clearly through his mind as he gasped. These weren't his thoughts, he realized but hers' or rather more along lines of her words.

"Yes?" Z said more like a question then an answer as she moved closer pulling him into her and allowing her to wrap him in an embrace placing her head on his shoulder. 'I was hoping we would bond to the point to be able to communicate.' She said sounding like his own thought in his own mind.

Me to," Z said meaning it but not knowing it was possible until 15 seconds ago. She pulled her head back and rubbed her face gently against his as his arms wrapped around her. 'I apologize for startling you earlier and rendering you unconscious but it was the only way to make your acquaintance.'

"I'm just happy you did," Z said truly meaning it. They sat holding each other for a while and then he leaned back so he could look at her face. "I'm Z." He said. He saw the puzzled look and explained. "That is my name. That is what others call me." 'Z?' She said.

"Yes," Z said. "What's your name? What do they call you?" 'We do not have names,' She explained. 'For we have no use for them.'

"May I give you one then?" Z asked after a moment of thought. 'Yes,' She said. Z then thought about what to call her as a list of names was rattled off inside of his head. Suddenly he smiled as he thought about the perfect one.

"How about Xena?" He asked smiling at his own inside joke. 'Xena,' She said mauling the name over in her mind. 'I shall now be known always as Xena to you.' He smiled and rested his chin on her shoulder again, as she did the same.

"Where is Nearmyer?" He asked and then thought she wouldn't know his name. "The other human I was with?" 'He is with my sister,' Xena explained. 'I can take you to him if that would please you.'

"I would like to see him yes," Z said leaning back again as he loosened his arms preparing to break the embrace. 'Then accompany me,' Xena said as she broke the embrace and he opened the door following her into the dim corridor.

Also lurking through the corridors was a male xenomorph and he lead a disorganized formation of seven other males behind him. He had been ordered by the queen to head to the upper levels and help the others deal with the humans even though the advantage was starting to swing in their favor. He didn't know this nor would he care if he did as he moved swiftly through the tunnels. He stopped suddenly and sniffed at the air smelling something sweet, pleasant and ultimately delicious coming from a corridor that lead away from the upper levels of the complex. He looked behind him to see his pack had stopped as well and sniffed the air smelling what he smelt. They looked at him, since he was the pack leader he was the one calling the shots. He pulled his lips back into a sneer and hissed just before he broke out into an all out sprint moving down the tunnel moving towards the source of the smell which was coming from hole that Z and Nearmyer had fell through earlier and was lift unnoticed by both species until now. His pack hurried to catch up with him as they let out their own hisses.


	5. Breach

In the upper levels of the compound Charlie team was nearing their first checkpoint, a set off double doors with _Maintenance access _written in black blocky letters above it. On either side were pallets stacked high with cardboard boxes. The team had encounter heavy resistance along the way, but other than Turbo's close call they had made it through unharmed. Turbo had kicked in a door to a corner office and a xenomorph had been waiting for him. It pounced on him as soon as the door was opened. Batman had been right behind Turbo and used his weapon's butt as a club and hit the monster in the side of the head. He knew that shooting it while it was on top of Turbo would have killed them both. He didn't get the nickname Batman just for the Batman symbol tattooed on his arm but because he was 6' 6" 245lbs and his body looked like the Batman suit with perfectly toned muscles. The xenomorph's skull fractured as it shrieked in pain and was knocked off of Turbo, who scooted away as Batman put rounds into the xenomorph splashing the floor with its dangerous blood.

The sergeant held up a fist signaling them to stop in front of the door. As soon as they did they formed a lose circle keeping all directions covered with overlapping fields of fire. He pointed at Turbo then at the door. Turbo nodded and started his examination of the door as the sergeant keyed his mike.

"Central this is Charlie team," The Sergeant said. "We have reached our first checkpoint. LACE report as follows: Amber, amber up, up. Requesting mission update over." In those few short lines he had told command that they had reached the entrance to the maintenance tunnels, had drank about half their supply of water, expanded roughly half the teams' ammo had no casualties and no equipment issues. The sergeant subconsciously pressed a hand to his single earphone over his left ear as command spoke back to him.

"Wilco," The sergeant said after command had finished. "Charlie team out. Turbo report."

"She's locked boss man," Turbo said kicking the sturdy metal door with his booted foot.

"Blow it?" The sergeant asked.

"Out of det cord boss," Turbo said.

"Breach?" He asked then. Turbo turned back and looked at the door more closely and at the lock in particular.

"I think we might be able to do that," Turbo said after some thought.

"Alright Savage, Hawk dig in right here," The sergeant ordered pointing at the two pallets. " I want radio checks every 15 minutes and report any and all contacts. The rest of you, we're going to sweep the tunnels and move with the other teams to eliminate our primary target." Savage and Hawk each stood behind a pallet one faced the door and the other the hallway they had just walked down. They dropped their straight, 30 round magazines, from their SCARs pulled 100 round drum magazines from their assault packs and shoved them into their weapons' receiver. They pulled the adjustable stocks as far out as they would go before pressing a button on their grips causing retractable bipod legs to shoot out and lock out from the bottom of their grips. Resting the bipods on the pallets of boxes they pressed the stocks into their shoulders gripping the pistol grip with one hand and holding the stock against their shoulder with the other. They had just turned their close combat carbines into light machineguns in seconds without needing any tools. One of the reasons the SACR was the preferred weapon for SF. They only thing they were missing was a longer barrel, which could be swapped out without tools still, but required a complete field strip of the weapon.

"Set," Hawk said as he scanned the hallway in front of them.

"Alright Turbo get us through the door," The sergeant ordered. Turbo slung his rifle across his back and pulled out a SPAZ shotgun that was strapped to his assault pack.

"I like to keep this for close encounters," Turbo said looking at Batman with a wide grin. Batman looked back at him stone faced and unimpressed. "You know because it's what he said from...and it's just like how in... and now we're engaging...Fuck you that's funny." Batman shook his head and backed away from the door so Turbo could breach the door. Turbo pulled the pump back ejecting the unfired buckshot shell and slipped in a breaching round into the chamber and slammed the pump forward again. He pressed the end of the barrel to the lock and fired point blank into it. Sparks shot up and around the lock and when he removed the barrel there was just a smoking creator were the lock had been. Batman planted his foot just to the left of the destroyed lock and kicked the door in. The four commandos rushing into the dark tunnels their goggles set to the NV setting allowing then to see in the dark but it was only in shades of green.

Central, Charlie team rear guard," Savage said into his mike. "Charlie team actually moving into tunnels over." Central muttered something through his earphone. "Understood Central. Charlie team rear guard out."

"This is some voodoo bullshit man," Hawk said not taking his eyes from the front sight post of his weapon.

"Amen," Savage said and then they fell quiet.

A half a mile from the compounds outer fence, two miles from the compound was the staging point for the 'training exercise '. Generators hummed, vehicles prowled and soldiers milled about entering and exiting various tents. Posted outside the largest tent, where a com antenna stood nearby, were two MPs and they checked everyone's ID before they were admitted to the command tent. Inside were tables stacked with radios, computers and TV screens. Variously lieutenants manned the radios to relay reports and commands between the soldiers and their commanders. Other typed up reports and keep up on the status of the commandos, the rest of the soldiers status was dismissed and put off to the side for the time being. All the soldiers inside the command tent had security clearances of the highest levels to allow them to know what they did so they could do their job. Standing in front of two large TV screens, that were split up into smaller sections, showing the video feeds from the team leaders helmet cams was the person in charge of this 'training exercise '. Brigadier General Sherman stood watching the screen puffing on a cigar. He knew it was a stereotype to be the old, cigar smoking general but was it so wrong to enjoy the simple things in life?

"Sir?"Lieutenant Cross said carefully stepped beside Sherman.

"What is it lieutenant?" Sherman asked exhaling a large cloud of smoke.

"Sir Charlie team has reached the maintenance tunnels along with Delta and Whiskey teams," Cross explained. "Bravo and Echo teams are nearing their checkpoints as well."

"Excellent," Sharman said. "Wasn't Charlie supposed to rally with Delta team before they went into the tunnels?"

"Um yes sir...they were," Cross explained. "They decided to link up once inside the tunnels." Sharman sighed heavily, he disliked working with these cowboys but he had to admit they got the job down.

"Casualties?" Sherman asked puffing on his cigar.

"Still within acceptable ranges," Cross explained.

"The contingency option?" Sherman asked as he watched the screens.

"Two batteries of the 7th air artillery regiment have arrived and are staging in a field a mile from here," Cross said.

"Cover story?"

"They believe it's a live fire exercise," Cross said looking at a paper attached to a clip board. "They have both 'steel rain' and bunker buster rounds."

"Excellent," Sherman remarked knocking the ash off the end of his cigar. "If we can't do this clean we do it messy. Carry on lieutenant."

"Sir," Cross said returning to his chair and radio. He was one of them that was monitoring both the Green Berets frequencies and the rest of the soldiers.

"Central this is Watch Dog 3 over," A young sounding voice thick with a Russian accent said over one of the non-SF frequencies. Watch Dog was the call sigh for the MP teams and it was odd since they would only have left the staging area only to investigate something. Cross's palms began to sweat as he picked up the handset.

"This is Central go ahead Watch Dog 3. Over," Cross said into the mouth piece.

"We were try to find Roamer 12 and Roamer 10 after they missed several consecutive check-ins," Watch Dog 3 explained. Cross looked at the map that was attached to his clipboard. Roamer 12's patrol was around the outer fence and Roamer 10's was the next loop to 12. Cross felt something cold enter his veins.

"We found a large hole that leads to what appeals to be maintenance tunnels in Roamer 12's patrol route," Watch Dog 3 reported. "No sign of Roamer 12 or 10 but there is what appears to be blood on the ground. Over."

"Was there a question in there? Over," Cross said his hands sweating freely now.

"Is this still part of the training exercise? Over," Watch Dog 3 asked the million dollar question.

"Uh...uhm...ah," Cross said as he thought about the answer the un-keyed handset setting loosely in his right hand. He felt a rough and callous hand wrap around the handset and yank it from his grasp.

"Roger that Watch Dog 3," General Sherman said into the handset. "This is still part of the exercise. Hold your position we are sending air support for this training scenario, you are looking for downed pilots being portrayed by the Roamer pairs. Over."

"Roger that Central Watch Dog 3 holding position over," Watch Dog 3 said.

"What is your exact location? Over," Sherman asked.

"Unknown," Watch Dog 3 said. "Near the outer fence along Roamer 12's patrol route over."

"We'll find you don't worry son over," Sherman as he looked at the map Cross had.

"Understood out," Watch Dog 3 said ending the conversation

"Patch me in to the air units," Sherman ordered speaking to Cross.

"Yes sir," Cross said changing frequencies on the radio. Once he had it set he nodded at the general.

"This is Central Command to all Eagle flights," Sherman said into the handset. "Who's in the air, armed and carrying passengers? Sound off over."

"Central this Eagle seven we are armed and have six extra bodies aboard over," A grizzled voice said over the radio.

"Weapons and crew check over," Sherman ordered.

"Two M134s full load out, with Zulu team ready for insertion over," The pilot said.

"You are to move along the outer fence," Sherman said. "Be on the lookout for ground units around a possible breach point over."

"Roger that moving now over," The pilot said Sherman was able to hear the helicopter's engines increase over the radio.

"Once you find it deploy Zulu team to the AO and await further orders," Sherman said speaking slowly and clearly. "Your cover is you're helping look for down pilots. Central out." Sherman set the handset next to Cross. "Lieutenant?"

"Yes sir," Cross said looking up.

"Keep me informed on Eagle seven's progress and their current situation," Sherman ordered.

"Of course sir," Cross said as Sherman started to walk away.

"Oh and lieutenant," Sherman said stopping but not turning around. "Don't ever hesitate again."

"Yes sir," Cross said his shoulders slumping. Sherman started walking again only stopping in front of the TV screens again. He knocked some more ash from the end of his cigar before sticking it back into his mouth.

Outside in the night air Private Brooks clipped his radio back to his FLC. Brooks was the youngest soldier brought along, being just 17 enlisting straight out of high school. He was also the newest having completing MP AIT not a month ago. He was short at only 5' 8" and 127lbs soaking wet but he was fit able to run faster than anyone in his company in basic training. He also had no problem completing any physical challenge the drill sergeants could dream up. That along with his thick Russian accent earned him the nickname _Spetsnaz _and there were several jokes about him being a spy. He wasn't just strong but he was smart too having guaranteed top of his class from AIT. He had wanted to be an MP so he could do some real good. All in all he had the makings to become an outstanding soldier. His commander thought so too because he was getting his OCS packet together and was going to send it off once he reached the rank of specialist.

His partner Staff Sergeant Anderson was everything he could be. She was a tall, slender board shouldered woman. She was tough, intimating and beautiful when she wanted to be. She had wanted to be an MP because she wasn't allowed to join the infantry and the MPs were the only ones that got deployed like infantry. Whenever she explained this to her male peers they always gave her skeptical looks. Oh they loved to bring up the PT test and how it was easier for women to pass with its double standard scaling. Then she was more than happy to bring up the fact she was passing well above the _male _standard usually scoring higher than the person she was talking to. Now after women were allowed into combat arms she was getting her packet together to go to ranger school, just waiting on the commander to approve it. She enjoyed working with Brooks he was squared away, knew his shit and more importantly didn't hit on her constantly.

"It's called in sergeant," Brooks said facing Anderson.

"Good job private," Anderson said as she looked around holding her M4 loosely.

"What does a big hole in the ground have to do with finding downed pilots sergeant?" Brooks asked as he walked away from the hole and towards Anderson.

"Then one thing you learn about officers kid is that these kind of things make since to them," Anderson explained. "Even if it doesn't make since to anybody else. Get some chem lights around the outside and toss a few down there."

"Yes sergeant," Brooks said snapping to. Anderson shook her head a little he was a good kid but he need to loosen up a little. Brooks pulled a few chem lights, which were nothing more than longer lasting brighter glow sticks, from his FLC. He broke them, shook them causing them to glow a bright green and placed them around the large hole. He then leaned over the dark hole and cracked his last one tossing it down into the hole. He watched the eerie green light fall into the hole when he saw what looked like a set of sharp jaw floating through the air. The light fell deeper into the hole and the teeth disappeared and Brooks dismissed them as an optical illusion. That's when the pack leader xenomorph's front claws landed on Brooks's shoulders and he pulled him into the hole as he used Brooks to continue his leap out of the hole. Brooks gave a yell in surprise as he fell through the hole, he flipped over once and landed on his back at the bottom of the tunnel. Pain shot up his spine as the wind was knocked out of him. He was about to push himself up when he felt a sharp sudden pain in his gut. Brooks raised his head up and saw a sharp tail sticking out of his stomach just below where his body armor stopped.

"Shit," Brooks said blood dripping from the corner of his mouth. A face appeared in the darkness and then three more as the rest of the pack caught up. The tail was forcefully pulled out of him causing him more pain then when it had went in and this time it was stabbed into his chest. The Kevlar only held up for a second before the tail punched through and into his chest cavity, piercing his lung and just missing his heart. It would have been better if it hit his heart for now his lungs were filling up with blood and he was drowning in his own blood as more bubbled out of his mouth. The xenomorph that the tail belonged to showed himself crawling on top of Brooks pulling its lips back and hissed. It pulled his tail out of his chest and drove it through his neck the tip coming out the others side. Brooks was still clinging to life however as the xenomorph leaned in closer saliva dripping from his mouth and onto Brooks's face. This was the last thing Brooks ever saw as the xenomorph drove its inner mouth through his forehead and out the back of his head. The rest of the pack was already out of the hole and the one that had killed Brooks jumped up to join them.

On the surface just before Brooks was killed the pack leader was already out of the hole and rushing towards Anderson who had her back towards the hole. It was her that he and his pack had smelled and it was her that they wanted. She heard him approach, hearing his movements on the grass she whipped around quickly, but it was quick enough. The leader had jumped onto Anderson as she turned knocking her to the ground. Her weapon was knocked from her grasp as he attempted to pin her. She wasn't about to let him as she punched the side of his head knocking him loose enough to make a grab for her pistol that was strapped to her thigh. He recovered quickly and as her hand wrapped around her pistol's grip, he grabbed her waist and held it, keeping her from pulling it out from her holster. A second xenomorph had jumped out of the hole and went to help the leader. He went around and held her shoulders down and then pulled her arms above her head and pinned them down. Another xenomorph had reached them as well and held her legs down. With her firmly held down the pack leader got off of her and ripped the pistol from her hostler and tossed it to the side. The rest of his pack had shown up and they sat and watched impatiently. The pack leader used his nails to roughly ripped her uniform from her, taking chunks of it away. He scratched her skin in several places drawing blood from all of them and getting sharp screams of pain each time from her. The last thing he removed was her boots and helmet so she was completely naked, laying on the grass and unable to move. A feeling Anderson was unfamiliar with started to grow in her, fear, as the pack leader moved over her. She saw that to her horror and disgust that this thing, this monster had an erection.

"No," She said forcefully, even though she was no position. "You are not going to fucking do that!" The leader pulled his lips back into a sneer and hissed as he forced himself into her. Anderson started to scream first in furry and then in pain as he started to thrust, he didn't care no one could hear her here. The male xenomorphs didn't have gas or venom like the females all they had was the normal advantages granted to a xenomorph and brute force. Perhaps this is why the two sisters had chosen humans as their mates instead of males of their own kind. The pack leader started to thrust quickly and fully into Anderson. She felt nothing but pain as the xenomorph forced himself onto her. Her voice had gone horse from screaming and gave up instead grunting as she grit her teeth. The leader let out a hiss as he came his seamen flowing into her this causing her to scream again. He withdrew himself and she felt as if a knife had been removed from her as a little pain remained behind washing through her slit and stomach. The pack leader backed away from her and sat on his haunches as Anderson was still pinned. With a simple bob of his head he unleashed a frenzy.

The xenomorph holding her legs pushed them up so they were in the air and her back was bent into a uncomfortable position. The one that was holding her arms to the ground above her head moved so he was pining them with his knees. He then grabbed her ankles and pulled them back stretching her back even more as he pushed them towards the ground. She gave a yell of surprise as her back popped. Now with his hands free the one that had been holding her legs down shoved his own erect member into her and started to thrust quickly. Another xenomorph run up beating two others to Anderson and shoved his penis into her anus. This caused her to scream in pain and surprise again and the xenomorph holding her arms and feet shifted his hips and forced his penis into her mouth. His erect member was pushed all the way into the back of her throat making it hard to breathe as she felt like she was dawning. Just when she thought she was going to chock to death he pulled it back letting her draw a partial breath before he shoved it back in. They all thrusting quickly and forceful not holding back as the rest of the pack jumped around impatiently and a few moved up, circled her and started to rub their erect penis on any patch of her bare skin they could find. This still left a few out as the moved around impatiently there erect members demanding attention.

Anderson couldn't believe what was happening to her as she felt something tear in both her anus and slit as these monsters thrusted roughly and forcefully. Suddenly she felt the one that was in her slit pull out before he had finished and was thankful for it but couldn't help but wonder why. It was because a xenomorph that was waiting had decided he had waited long enough and that one that was inside of her womanhood had been there long enough. He moved behind the one inside of her and forceful pulled him off and out of her. The one hissed at him but after he swiped at his face the one that had already been inside of her went off and sulked. The new one forced himself into Anderson even harder than the one before causing her to grunt in pain her voice muffled by a xenomorph's penis in her mouth. The one inside of her mouth hissed as he came pulling out just in time, as he would have drowned her in his seamen if he had left it in. Some was still squirted down her throat as the rest was discharged onto her face. Some landed in her eye and it stung but should could do nothing more but blink and try to get rid of it as the xenomorph still held her arms and legs.

Meanwhile one of the ones that was rubbing his penis on Anderson's stomach hissed as he ejaculated as well. Some of it landed on the xenomorph that was rubbing his on her chest causing him to hiss at the other one in anger. The offender hissed back as he shot the reminder of his seamen onto Anderson's bare stomach. The one that had been forced out of Anderson's slit was feed up with waiting and rushed up trying to pull the one that pulled him out of Anderson off. Instead the other used his tail and swatted him away knocking him back. The one on the ground hissed in anger before he weasel his way next to the one inside of Anderson. He pushed the other to the side a little to make room for him. With the other still inside of Anderson he pushed the tip of his own member into Anderson's slit the rest wouldn't fit alongside the other's member as he thrusted. He let out a hiss as he slammed his hips forward forcing his member in along with the others the two thrusting out of sync. Anderson let out a blood curdling scream as two dicks were forced into the same hole. The one that was inside of her anus came with a hiss his seamen bubbling from her and onto the grass. Anderson didn't know how much more she could take it felt like they were ripping her apart as two more that were rubbing their dicks on her bare skin came covering her in more sticky goop.

The pack leader was the only one that wasn't involved now as he already had his turn. Being the Alpha defiantly had its advantages, the only down side was the occasional challenger he had to put back in his place. He watched as they savagely took advantage of the human his tail moving idly through the air. When they were done he would have them take her back into the tunnels he was sure there was others that would enjoy what she had to offer. He didn't hear or see the helicopter approach, none of the xenomorphs did.

Chief Warrant Officer McKenzie stood with his hands loosely gripping the left side mounted M134 better known as a minigun. He watched the world go by in the shades of green as his hybrid goggles illuminated the night for him. One side was standard night vision the other was infrared so everything was green but things that had heat were outlined in gray making them stand out more. Sitting on the floor next to him with their feet hanging out the side of the helicopter where three of the six Green Berets that made up Zulu team. On the other side were the other three along with the second crew chief and gunner Chief Warrant Officer Murphy. McKenzie was board and frankly getting pissed off as they had been flying around for sometime unable to found the MPs. Suddenly movement caught his eyes and he turned his head to look. In the vision the goggles granted him he saw a human shaped outline trimmed in a light gray meaning it had low body heat. Around and on top of that shape were black objects trimmed in black meaning they were cold or didn't radiate body heat. He quickly counted the number of shapes and relayed the information to the pilots via radio.

"We have eight x-rays at our 7 o'clock, near a large hole," McKenzie said his voice calm and monotone. "They appear to be eating a friendly permission to engage."

"Uh confirmed we see 'em," The pilot said with the same monotone. "All x-rays are to be engaged on sight. Smoke 'em."

"Roger," McKenzie said bring the barrels of the mounted gun to bear as the pilot slowed and turned to give him a better angle. McKenzie jammed his thumbs down on the firing studs, the gun hesitated for half a second as the barrels spun up. Red lines shot from the barrels as tracers cut through the night air, the minigun making its distinct buzz saw sound. He drew a zig zag over the group of xenomorphs that were grouped around the human shape turning them into messy, bloody bits. He then walked the rounds into a solitary xenomorph that was sitting nearby before he could get away. A few seconds later he eased off the trigger and looked at the mess he had made.

"All x-rays down," McKenzie said.

"Roger that," The pilot. "Bringing her down get ready to rope boys." The Green Berets stood up hooked ropes to rings set into the floor of the helicopter before hooking the ropes to their harnesses.

"Was that an ultra-kill or a mega-kill," Chief Murphy asked McKenzie.

"Ultra," McKenzie said picking up on Murphy's joke. "I think the bastards had ghost equipped too for I didn't see the red diamonds around them." The two crew chiefs laughed at their cruel jokes. The callous manner in which the two aviators spoke about death and killing was not uncommon. Pilots and aviators usually go numb very quickly having killed so many targets from so far away and it really started to feel like a video game to them. The pilot brought his craft into a hover and the Green Berets roped down landing all at once. They found the pieces that had been the xenomorphs and the body of Brooks. All they found of Anderson was a sticky red goop since the minigun rounds had torn her to pieces and then the amount of xenomorph blood that had splashed on it had dissolved it to such a state. They made their report to Central, one threw a brick of C4 into the hole collapsing it and sealing the hole as the rest spread out to search the area for anymore xenomorphs that might had gotten out.


	6. Blood and water

Z was blissfully unaware of the actions of the male xenomorphs or that the commandos had started sweeping the tunnels. He followed 'Xena' through the tunnels as she lead him to Nearmyer and several times he caught himself staring at her hips sway back and forth as she walked.

"How much further?" Z asked.

'Not long now.' She said, he heard her as a voice inside his head. They walked the dim corridors till they reached a door marked _locker room_ where she stopped.

"In here?" Z asked pointing at the door. She nodded and he walked inside. Nearmyer was still on the couch with his mate resting her head on his lap with his arms around her.

"Z!" Nearmyer said happily causing his mate to jerk her head up in surprise. She looked over at Z and then her sister and her tail swished happily through the air. She got up and walked over to her sister as Nearmyer got up and walked over to Z. The two soldiers looked at each other and then they shared a short embrace.

"So did you...you know...with her?" Nearmyer asked sheepishly.

"Yeah," Z said just as sheepishly rubbing the back of his head. Both stood there unsure of what to do.

"Dude you fucking reek," Nearmyer said suddenly. Z was shocked and shoved Nearmyer gently but forcefully away.

"You don't smell so great either," Z said and then turning to face Xena and her sister. "Is there a place where we can shower around here?"

'There is.' Xena said.

"Great could you show us?" Z asked earning him a confused look from Nearmyer and a quick backward head jerk from Xena's sister. The two xenomorphs looked at each other.

'He can hear you?' Her sister asked her.

'Indeed he can,' Xena said. 'Can your mate not hear you?' Her sister bowed her head sadly.

'He cannot,' She said and then stood over and walked over to Z. She placed her hands on his shoulders and leaned in close so their faces were almost touching. She turned her head to the side and started to purr softly, this made both Nearmyer and Xena jealous. They stayed like that for a few heartbeats with Z feeling uncomfortable as he casted glances over to Xena and then Nearmyer. He suddenly opened his mouth in realization as he had heard half of the two sister's conversation.

"Oh," Z said. "No I'm sorry I can't hear you." She immediately let go of Z and went over to Nearmyer and wrapped her arms around him for she knew he was jealous. Xena went up behind Z wrapped her arms around his waist and placed her head on his shoulder.

'You can hear only me?' She asked as she purred softly in his ear.

"I guess so," Z said softly enjoying more of her scent.

'It seems the amount of my venom I used has sped up the bounding,' Xena explained. Z casted a glance over at Nearmyer as he held his mate. 'Do not worry he will bound with her in the same way we have in time.'

"I hope so," Z said as his own foul body odor intruded upon Xena's pleasant scent. "How about that shower?"

'Of course," Xena said let go of him. 'This way. Come along sister.' Her sister let go of Nearmyer and the two lead the way in to the hallway the two soldiers admiring the ass of their respective mate. The two sisters lead them across the hall to a door marked _showers _and they pushed it open.

"That figures," Z muttered as he walked inside. The room was dark and smelled dank, Nearmyer found the light switch and flipped it on. They were in a white tiled smaller locker room set up like the one they had just came from. Past the lockers was a large square tiled room with silver shower heads sticking out of the wall. The two soldiers started to disrobe folding their uniforms and placing them neatly on a low wooden bench. Having spent a couple of years in the army they had become accustom to shower with other males, they didn't enjoy it but they had gotten use to it. Their mates watched them undress as they sat on their haunches their tails wrapped around them.

'Are they going to mate now?' Xena's sister asked.

'No,' Xena said. 'They are going to wash themselves.' The two naked soldiers walked into the showers and choosing ones along on the same wall but with a courtesy space between the two. They turned the water on and adjusted it each to their liking before stepping under the water, the room started to fill with steam.

"Ah son of a bitch," Z said suddenly as he pumped the wall mounted liquid soap dispenser to fill his right hand with soap.

"What?" Nearmyer asked as he let the water flow over his head.

"I don't have a towel," Z said as he rubbed his body with soap.

"Son of a bitch," Nearmyer said as he realized he didn't have one either.

"Oh fucking well," Z said having a nice lather going by then.

"Not the first time its happen," Nearmyer said filling his own hand with soap. "Sadly." Z grunted in agreement and the two fell silent as they washed themselves. Back in the area with the lockers the two xenomorphs sat and watched their mates as they rubbed themselves with soap. It was Xena's sister that couldn't control herself as she moved into the damp room. She moved lightly and quickly the only thing that gave her away was her claws tapping the tile floor. They both turned to look at her as she grabbed Nearmyer and pulled him into her. She placed her head on his shoulder and gently pressed her hips against his hips causing him to stiffen as he lightly kissed her neck. Z turned around feeling at first awkward and then a little jealous and was about to turn the water off to leave when he felt arms wrap around his neck and a soft body press against his back.

'Feeling left out?' Xena asked as she muzzled the said of his face.

"Maybe a little," Z whispered as he stiffened forgetting about Nearmyer. Her hand snaked down till it encircled his member where she started to gently stroke it. Meanwhile her sister had Nearmyer's member in her mouth again as water flowed over his head. The two were all set to mate again when Xena's head snapped up as if she heard something. A second later her sister's head was also up as the two looked around alerted to something. They both let go of their human mates leaving them confused and wanting.

'They approach,' Xena said. 'We must become hidden.' With those words still echoing around Z's head the two xenomorphs dropped to all fours and sprinted out of sight. This left both Nearmyer and Z very confused and with empty holes inside of them.

"What the hell?" Nearmyer asked turning towards Z.

"I don't know," Z said with a shrug. "She said something about they approach."

"She said?" Nearmyer asked confused.

"Uh yeah," Z said rubbing the back of his head. "I can hear her talk. Well maybe hear her thoughts or uhm...well I don't know how it works."

"Oh," Nearmyer a little taken back and hurt that he couldn't hear his mate. He then turned the shower to cold water and ducked his head under it. "Couldn't they have waited like 10 minutes?"

"It only takes you 10 minutes?" Z asked also turning the water to cold to calm him down. "I only need 7." This caused the two to laugh loudly, their laughter echoing through the tiled room. The two fell silent again and started to wash themselves with warm water again.

"Hey Z," Nearmyer said.

"Yeah," Z said turning to face Nearmyer keeping his eyes high.

"They mostly come at night," Nearmyer said as he rubbed soap on his head. "Mostly." The two laughed loudly again as now it was Z's turn to come up with a line at some point.

Moving through the maintenance tunnels with a surprising lack of resistance was the four commandos of Charlie team actual: Turbo, Batman, Reaper, and Sergeant Kilgore. Kilgore wasn't his nickname that was his actual last name and it was very fitting. He was the oldest one of the group having severed in desert storm when he was 25 and he had no time for any bullshit.

"Keep it tight," He ordered as they moving swiftly and carefully down the corridors his goggles pressed to his eyes his SCAR in his shoulder. Batman and Turbo were still up front and it was Turbo who stopped the group as he bent to look at something on the floor.

"Report," Kilgore ordered as he and Reaper flipped around to cover the rear.

"Got a brain bucket here," Turbo explained as he picked up a helmet.

"One of ours?" Kilgore asked thinking it belonged to one of the other teams of Green Berets already in the tunnels.

"That's a negative," Turbo said. "One it's got a camo cover, two it's too clean and three it has no NVG mount. Gotta be a pog's."

"There's a broken pro mask over here as well," Batman said holding up a gas mask that the straps had snapped. "A pog was differently here."

"What the hell is a pog doing down here?" Kilgore demanded.

"Don't know boss man," Turbo said. "There is no blood and we got some light drag marks. Whoever it is they weren't killed here."

"Time to play hero boys," Kilgore said making a snap decision. "We follow the marks they may take us to the nest."

"You got it boss," Turbo said getting to his feet and starting to move forward again. They moved a little slower keeping their eyes on the ground and all around them looking for targets. They came to a t junction where Turbo stopped them again.

"Two sets of drag marks now," Turbo said. "They spilt here...both go down that way." Turbo pointed down the hall in the direction of the storage room and the queen.

"Central this is Charlie team actual," Kilgore said keying his mike. "We have possible location of primary target over."

"Roger that hold position other teams moving to your position now," Central said into all their earphones. "Central out." The four commandos knelt as they each faced a different direction as they waited for the other teams.

"Charlie team actual this is Charlie team rear guard," Hawk said his voice coming through Kilgore's earphone. "Radio check, engaged four x-rays all down over."

"Roger that," Kilgore said. "Charlie team actual out."

"Hey you hear that?" Batman asked.

"What?" Kilgore said have not heard what the younger sharp ears of Batman had heard.

"It sounds like singing," Batman explained pointing down a corridor.

"Say again?" Kilgore said not believing what he just said.

"Singing," Batman said. "Coming from that way."

"Yeah I hear it too," Turbo said. "Motherfucker can't carry a tune." Kilgore sighed heavily before he keyed his mike.

"Central this is Charlie team actual," Kilgore said. "We have found a ACH and pro mask that may belong to a support soldier. We can hear...um...singing please advise. Over." Here there was a long pause.

"Um roger that," Central said sounding very perplexed. Whiskey team 30 seconds out from your current location move to investigate possible abducted friendly's over."

"Roger that Charlie team actual out," Kilgore said and then turning to his team. "Looks like I was right, time to play hero." The four commandos started to move in the direction of the singing as Whiskey team took their place in the t junction. As they moved down the corridor the singing got louder. They could also hear running water as they got closer stopping outside of a door marked _showers_. Turbo, who was in the lead, looked back at Kilgore who nodded and Turbo eased the door open. The bright white lights blinding him as his goggles magnified their light. He quickly lifted them up and blinked a few times to clear his vision. The rest of the commandos moved silently into the room also removing their goggles. They could hear the singing clearly now as well as feel the steam from the hot water. Reaper slapped Kilgore on the shoulder and then pointed at the neatly folded ACUs on the wooden bench. Kilgore nodded as they moved towards the showers. Still in the showers and letting the water run over his head Z continued to sing.

"All around me are familiar faces," Z sang loudly his voice echoing throughout the tiled room. "Worn out places. Worn out faces."

"TURN AROUND! HANDS UP!" A gruff booming voice demanded. Both Nearmyer and Z whipped around and placed their hands in the air. What they saw scared the shit out of them: Four commandos in full battle rattle aiming their high speed weapons at them.

"NAMES AND RANKS ASSHOLES!" Kilgore demanded.

"Private-" Nearmyer started.

"STAND AT PARADE REST WHEN ADDRESSING AN NCO!" Kilgore ordered. The two naked privates spread their legs shoulder width apart and placed their hands behind their backs.

"Private Nearmyer sergeant," Nearmyer said.

"Private Za-" Z started.

"I DON'T CARE! WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING DOWN HERE?!" Kilgore demanded.

"We fell down a hole on patrol," Nearmyer explained. "We were looking for a way out."

"WHY THE HELL ARE YOU NAKED?!" Kilgore shouted.

"Sergeant we were told it was a training excurse," Z said. "Our radio broke we thought it was a good idea to take a shower first, before we headed up."

"Training excurse," Kilgore said calmly. "You haven't seen anything odd down here?"

"No!" Z and Nearmyer said in unison a bit too quickly. Kilgore looked around and eyed them carefully before speaking again.

"Where are your weapons and pro masks?" Kilgore asked. Here the two privates remained silent as they didn't know how to answer. This made Kilgore and the rest of the commandos suspicious. "Cover us." Kilgore whispered to Turbo and Batman.

"You got it boss," Turbo said aiming at Nearmyer's chest. Kilgore and Reaper stepped closer to the privates their rifles still shouldered.

"Place your hands on your head and get on your knees!" Kilgore ordered.

"Can we get dressed first?" Z asked as he placed his hands behind his head interlacing his fingers.

"No!" Kilgore said. Once both Z and Nearmyer had their hands on their heads and where kneeling Kilgore and Reaper lowered their weapons and moved closer to restrain them. Turbo and Batman stayed back with their weapon still pointed at them in case they tried anything, although it was doubtful they were undertrained, unarmed and naked. Still something didn't set right with Turbo about the two. They found a pro mask and ACH that looks like it's been ripped off and here are two privates missing their pro masks, helmets and weapons. Then this place was crawling with x-rays there was no way they hadn't seen any. A thought came to Turbo that shook him to his core 'Hosts, they gotta be hosts.' He opened his mouth to tell Kilgore and Reaper unaware of the tail that was snaking its way down from above him. The tail pulled back and stiffened as it was ready to be driven through his back. The tail shot through the air the spear like tip hitting him square in the back. However unlike the rest of the soldiers the commandos were sporting Dragon Skin armor a revolutionary new form of armor that was designed to shatter incoming rounds instead of just catching them. The tail hit the armor and was stopped before it could break through but Turbo still felt the tip hit him in the back.

"AHHHH!" He shouted as he whipped around as the tail was pulled out of his back plate. Her sneak attack failed, Xena pounced on Turbo knocking his weapon from his grasp and pinning him to the ground. She went to drive her inner mouth through his forehead but he had been briefed and even trained on what to do if pounced by a xenomorph. He placed his forearm under her chin and raised it up just as her second mouth shot out, just coming short of its target. Batman had turned and brought his SACR to bear when he realized that he would kill them both and went to hit her with the butt of his weapon like he had before when Xena's sister jumped on his back knocking him to the ground as well. He managed to hang on to his weapon but it was beneath him, he could feel it pressed against his chest but her weight kept him from rolling over and picking it up. They had drilled on this position as well and he quickly tucked his head back so the bottom of his helmet was touching the top of his body armor, leaving her no exposed soft points. This didn't stop her from trying as her inner mouth shot out and dented the back of his helmet, but didn't go through. He knew that he was in a bad spot, one he couldn't get himself out of. Likewise with Turbo as he was using all of his strength just to keep Xena's head up knowing there was no way he could make a grab for his pistol or even his knife without her killing him first. They both knew the only way they were getting out of this alive was with direct intervention from their team members.

At Turbo's cry of pain Reaper and Kilgore had also whipped around while Z and Nearmyer had gotten to their feet again. All four watched as the two commandos were pounced by the xenomorphs. Once the two commandos saw that they were in danger they reacted. Reaper was the first snapping his SCAR up going to risk a shot knowing he wasn't going to have the time to close the distance without one of them getting killed. He took a second longer to aim hoping to hit it high keeping the blood spray to a minimum. This was his undoing as Nearmyer also reacted after seeing Reaper aim at his mate that was on Batman's back.

"NO!" Nearmyer shouted shoving Reaper's SCAR up just as he fired the round hitting the ceiling. Reaper forcefully shoved Nearmyer away almost knocking him to the ground.

"What the hell's your problem?" Reaper demanded as he re-shouldered his rifle. Nearmyer didn't answer but instead rushed him and tackled him to the ground before he could fire again. His SCAR slipped from his hands and slid across the slick floor. Reaper was caught off guard and Nearmyer landed three haymakers across Reaper's face causing blood to trickle from his nose. Reaper recovered however and grabbed Nearmyer's wrist as he went for a fourth hit. He pulled Nearmyer close to him as he hooked his leg through Nearmyer's leg. With a firm grip on Nearmyer's bare back and leg trapped against his leg he rolled them both over so he was on top of Nearmyer then. Now completely in control Reaper yanked his pistol from his thigh holster and pressed the barrel to Nearmyer's forehead. Nearmyer raised his hands above his head with his palms opened and up.

"That's a good boy," Reaper said his team members' peril momentary forgotten.

"You got him?" Kilgore asked aiming squarely at Z chest.

"Yeah the motherfucker just got the jump on me," Reaper said screwing the barrel into Nearmyer's forehead turning to look at Kilgore. Nearmyer then surprised Reaper again by suddenly grabbing his wrist with both hands and forcefully twisting. Reaper shouted in both surprise and pain as he dropped his pistol to the floor. Nearmyer went for it but so did Reaper the force of both of them hitting it caused it to slid out of reach of both of them. Reaper punched Nearmyer across the face as hard as he could the back of his head bouncing off the hard floor. Reaper pulled his combat knife for his vest and held it so Nearmyer could see it.

"Squirrely motherfucker," Reaper remarked as he brought the knife up. "But you pogs always are." He then tried to plunge the knife into Nearmyer's chest but he reached up and caught his wrist. Reaper used more force and the knife went closer but then stopped. Reaper gritted his teeth and put everything behind the knife but it still didn't move in fact it started to go back up towards him. "What the fuck?" Reaper grunted in shock as this pog motherfucker wasn't more than a buck 80, Reaper's arms were more muscular then this pog's legs, Reaper had the added advantage of gravity and yet this pog was out muscling him. Kilgore had turned to face Reaper again as he struggled with Nearmyer the fate of Turbo and Batman on the wayside now. When Kilgore turned he presented his back to Z who wasted no time taking a step so he was behind Kilgore. He wrapped his right arm around Kilgore's throat while his other arm wrapped around his head in a textbook naked choke(the irony was not lost on Z). Kilgore made his first mistake, having been taken by surprise, he reached up to grab Z's arm dropping his SCAR in the process. His training kicked in a second later as he tucked his chin to prevent Z from completely cutting off his air intake, but Z had set the choke perfectly and Kilgore was only delaying the inevitable if he didn't do something.

Kilgore drove his right elbow into his Z ribs while his left held onto Z's forearm. Instead of fall over and let go of Kilgore's neck Z only squeezed tighter, he didn't even flinch when Kilgore hit him. Kilgore drove his elbow into the same spot three more time each time becoming weaker as Z restricted his air intake and Kilgore exerted himself. He started to panic as his face started to flush and his eyes popped from his head. Desperate and out of option Kilgore did the one thing you're not supposed to do, he fell backwards to try and knock Z lose. Kilgore weighed a solid 210 and had an extra 75lbs of gear strapped to him which slammed down on Z as the two fell backwards. At the very least Z should've had the wind knocked out of him but instead he only tighten his choke and wrapped his legs around Kilgore getting him in the rear mount. Kilgore was now in the worst possible position he could be in and was at a loss of what to do. He managed to muster enough strength to roll to his side meaning to roll on to his stomach to stand up and try again. But he had loss all strength as his air intake was almost completely cut off. Kilgore saw blackness start to invade the edges of his vision and knew he didn't have much longer. He looked over and could see Reaper struggling with Nearmyer as the darkness grew.

Reaper grunted as his knife was pushed further up by the scrawny pog. Once the knife was safely away from him, Nearmyer reached up, grabbed Reaper by the neck and pulled him closer to him. Then using the same simple technique Reaper had used to flip him, Nearmyer did the same so he was on top of Reaper. Nearmyer punched him across the face till blood flowed freely from his nose and his eyes half glazed over. He then grabbed Reaper's hand that still held the knife and slammed it into the floor forcing him to drop it. Nearmyer snatched it up and went to bring it down on Reaper who caught his wrist with his hand. The knife hesitated for just a second before it started to descend towards Reaper again. The tip of the blade touched the side of his exposed neck where his body armor ended drawing a thin line of blood as Reaper managed to stop the knife for only a second again.

"How?" Was all Reaper said as Nearmyer drove the knife into his neck blood bubbling from his mouth. Reaper's hand went slack as the fight and life draining out of him. Nearmyer easily withdrew the knife and plunged it into his neck again, and again and then again. This was the last thing Kilgore saw as the darkness overtake him and his body went limp. Z felt Kilgore go limp and finally let go of him as Nearmyer still stabbed Reaper. Z stood up and used his foot to roll Kilgore onto his back as he bent and looked into his face. Z then jerked the pistol from Kilgore's holster and stood back up. Z took a second to aim and then emptied the entire 15 round magazine into Kilgore's face. The shots were deafening inside the shower, Z only stopping once the pistol was dry. He tossed it to the side where it chattered to the ground and he looked over at Nearmyer who was still on top of Reaper's lifeless body stabbing him. Nearmyer stopped then and slowly stood up clutching the blood soaked knife as he looked at his bloody hands. Z looked over at Kilgore and the bloody hole that used to be his face.

"What have we done?" Z whispered. Their mates had dispatched the other two commandos with ease and had watched them kill the other commandos very pleased with their mates. They then saw that they seemed upset and were possibly snapping out of it. The two xenomorphs rushed into the showers and held their mate.

"What have I done?" Z whispered again as he watched the water wash Kilgore's blood down the drain. "I just killed someone, a comrade."

'You had to,' Xena said as she purred in Z's ear.

"I did?" Z whispered confused turning his head to look at her.

'They would have taken you away,' Xena explained. 'They would not allow us to be with each other.'

"Yeah," Z said a little louder as he grabbed Xena and held her.

'They would not understand,' Xena said muzzling the side of his neck. 'You are mine and I will not let any harm befall you.'

"I am yours," Z agreed Xena's scent filling his nose and putting his mind at easy.

'And you are mine,' Xena's sister said muzzling Nearmyer's chest.

"Yes I am yours," Nearmyer said tonelessly. Her head shot up and she looked at his face.

'You hear me?' The sister asked.

"Yes," Nearmyer said with a smile spreading slowly across his face. She held Nearmyer even tighter then as he gently rubbed her head. The two soldiers got dressed again and were lead out by their mates the murder they had just committed completely forgotten. The four commandos were left dead inside of the showers, their blood slowly swept away by the still running water down the drain.

In the command tent no one said a word as they all stared at the video screen that had and was showing the feed from Kilgore's helmet cam. Sherman's cigar was clamped tight between his teeth over half of it was ash that barely hung on but he didn't move to knock it off. None of them moved as they stared at the screen that showed a red spotted image of the shower's ceiling. Hearing about possible captured friendly's Sherman had ordered Kilgore's camera feed be broadcasted on a TV screen. The whole command staff had witnessed the appearance of the female xenomorphs and the two naked privates kill two hardened Green Berets with their bare hands.

"What the hell just happened?" Sherman demanded when he talked it knocked the ash from his cigar. None of the lieutenants knew what to say or do so they remained quiet and didn't move. "I said: WHAT THE HELL JUST HAPPENED?!"

"Charlie team actual was just taken down sir," Lieutenant Cross said weakly.

"I know that lieutenant!" Sherman said whipping around to face him. "By fucking what?"

"Uh...two x-rays and two support soldie-" Cross started.

"TWO FUCKING NAKED, UNARMED POGS!" Sherman shouted causing Cross to flinch. "Find Dr. Stein and bring him here." Cross looked at Sherman and blinked. "NOW LIEUTENANT!"

"Yes sir," Cross said snapping to and leaving to find Dr. Stein. Sherman turned back around and looked at the TV as a tech played back the part where Z stood over Kilgore with the pistol and froze the image just before he fired. Sherman withdrew his lighter from his left chest pocket and flipped it open. He held the flame to the end of his burned out cigar and relit it.

"What the hell is going on?" Sherman whispered exhaling a cloud of smoke.


	7. The calm before

Dr. Stein followed Lieutenant Cross flanked by two stone faced MPs as they escorted him to the command tent. Dr. Stein worked for Biotech and was one of the few that made it out unharmed. He was kept secluded from the soldiers to maintain the illusion of the training excurse. He was lead to the command tent and the MPs checked his id badge that was clipped to the front of his scrubs, he had fled the compound in them and wasn't given anything else to change into. He was whisked inside and lead past all the radios and computers to the very back where there was a folding table that General Sherman was using in lieu of a desk. Sherman was sitting in a chair at the table looking over some reports and adding his signature to them.

"Have a seat doctor," Sherman said more like a order then a request. Dr. Stein sat in a uncomfortable, folding steel chair and placed his hands in his lap. Sherman looked up from his paper work and over to Lieutenant Cross. "Thank you lieutenant. Take your leave now and clear the TAC as well."

"Yes sir," Cross said executing an about face and ushered everyone out of the tent leaving the radios unmanned. Sherman stood up picking up a file from his desk, opened it and started to read from it.

"Dr. Stein, Frank A. lead researcher of Biotech: Darwin Complex," Sherman said reading Stein's personnel file. Sherman stopped as he looked at his full name again as he raised an eyebrow. "You name is Frank Stein? Are you shitting me?...A fitting name for your line of work wouldn't you agree?"

"I'm sorry general," Stein said slowly. "I don't understand."

"Really? You don't know what you name sounds like?" Sherman asked looking back over at the file. "What does the A stand for anyways?" Stein's cheeks flushed at the mention of his middle name. He coughed awkwardly to buy himself a moment of time.

"My mother really wanted a girl," Stein explained. "But she got me instead so my middle name is what she wanted to name her daughter: Ann." Sherman's jaw drooped.

"Your full name is Frank Ann Stein," Sherman said slowly. "Are you fucking kidding me?"

"No general I am not," Stein said. "What is so amusing about my name?"

"Never mind doctor," Sherman said turning his back on him and pulling a fresh cigar from his chest pocket. He stuck it in his mouth and lit it using his lighter. He exhaled a cloud of smoke. "I have a very large problem doctor." Here he paused and Stein sat in his uncomfortable chair unsure of what to do.

"What is that general?" Stein asked figuring he wanted him to ask.

"When I undertook command of this operation I knew there was going to be losses," Sherman explained still with his back to Stein. "However Special Forces units can report losses without having to give a full public report as long as there is a full record of their actions in a sealed, classified report. That being said it is hard to explain to the chain of command when a support soldier is killed in a 'training exercise'. I have lost at least four soldiers that were not supposed to do any fighting in this mission. This is still somewhat acceptable because in an op like this things happen that are out of any commander's control. We have a cover story ready to explain their death to both their families and commanders."

"That's good," Stein said unsure with himself.

"Yes it is," Sherman said turning to face Stein and exhaling a cloud of smoke into his face. "When you briefed us you told we would be facing xenomorphs and that we would have to neutralize the queen and their nest."

"That is correct general," Stein said with a curt nod.

"Is there anything else loose in that compound that you may have forgotten to mention?" Sherman asked.

"No," Stein said quickly and dropping his gaze to the floor.

"Really? Care to explain this?" Sherman asked throwing down a photo of a female xenomorph that had been taken from Kilgore's video.

"It's just a variant of the xenomorph species," Stein explained calmly as he picked up the photo. "It presents no new threat." Stein dropped his gaze to the floor again.

"Really?" Sherman said raising his eyebrow again. "Then can you explain this?" Sherman threw him a photo of Z and Nearmyer with their hands in the air.

"A couple of naked...soldiers," Stein guessed.

"Correct doctor," Sherman said throwing another photo down. "How about this one?" Stein picked it up and had to hold it inches from his face to be sure what he saw as true. The two naked soldiers from the last photo being held by two of the female xenomorphs but in a loving manner.

"Uhm," Stein said trying to think up an answer.

"How about these then?" Sherman demanded throwing down several photos at once that showed Z and Nearmyer killing Reaper and Kilgore from Kilgore's point of view. "Doctor I want to know two things: One why are two of my soldiers defending two of your pets and second how could two naked pogs take down two of the most hardcore, well trained warriors in this man's army in hand to hand combat?"

"Under the non-discloser policy of Biotech I am not allowed to disclose any company secrets," Stein said crossing his arms and with a smug look on his face. Sherman slammed his hands on the table the noise and force caused Stein to flinch.

"I DON'T THINK YOU FULLY APPRECIATE YOUR SITUATION!" Sherman shouted spit landing on the table in front of him. "I HAVE 12 MLRSES SET TO LEVEL THIS FUCKING PLACE!"

"What are you talking about?" Stein asked weakly.

"Do you know what a MLRS is doctor?" Sherman asked straightening back up and puffing on his cigar calming him down. Stein shook his head that he didn't. "It stands for Multi Launch Rocket System. Each holds 12 rockets, you're a smart man what's 12 multiplied by 12."

"144," Stein said his throat suddenly very dry.

"Half of those are 'steel rain' rounds which break up over a target area covering it in smaller explosive ordnance," Sherman explained. "The other half are bunker buster rounds which don't explode when they impact the ground but burn through and explode underground to ensure there is nothing left of your goddamned compound."

"You can't do that," Stein said weakly.

"THE HELL I CAN'T!" Sherman shouted leaning in again. "I am authorized to use what every I deem necessary to ensure this threat doesn't escape this compound. I thought when I received your brief I could retake the compound with boots on the ground. However with this new threat, one I know nothing about, I might deem it necessary to pull out and shell this place back to the fucking stone age. Unless that is I receive a brief on this new threat."

"I see general," Stein said looking up for the first time in a while.

"I'm glad we understand each other," Sherman said sitting. "Spill it and I mean everything."

"Very well," Stein said turning his gaze to the photo of the humans being held by xenomorphs. "As you know in order for this species to reproduce they need hosts."

"Yes you mention that," Sherman said knocking ash from his cigar.

"So far humans have made the ideal hosts for our research," Stein explained. "But it was, is hard to get a hold of hosts."

"Where have you been getting them?" Sherman asked inhaling more smoke.

"Death row inmates," Stein explained. "More specifically the ones sentenced to die by lethal injection. On the day of their execution they receive the first dose to numb them but the second and third puts them in a chemical coma. They are pronounced dead for the witnesses and thrown into a body bag then sent to us after some money exchanges hands. There is problems with that method as we can only get ones that their families don't want to bury their bodies. So we tried to use animal hosts everything from pigs to canines. They proved unsuitable for our needs and they were euthanized. We needed more hosts but we couldn't get them fast enough to keep up with our demand."

"What is your research focused on?" Sherman asked and then with a wave of his hand. "Never mind I don't want to know carry on with your explanation doctor."

"So when we got a new batch of hosts we decide we were going to try and engineer the xenomorphs to be able to reproduce on their own," Stein explained. "So we injected the eggs with a DNA cocktail."

"Human DNA?" Sherman asked.

"No," Stein said horrified. "That would be unethical."

"That is unethical to you?" Sherman asked with a raised eyebrow. "So answer me this where did you get the queen? You know what I don't care anymore just finish."

"We used a DNA cocktail taken from different reptiles that came somewhat close to the xenomorph's DNA along with different hormones," Stein carried on. "We used human hosts to birth them and it worked we created both male and female xenomorphs. However there were unforeseen consequences. The males were, are extremely aggressive to include their mating habits. Hives were growing at alarming rates and many females were lost due to the brute nature of the males. We tried to reengineer the males so they weren't as aggressive by cutting back on the amount of hormones we injected into an egg, but most didn't live after gestation. The ones that did were not suitable subjects, not suitable at all. So we had to reengineer the females to be able to counter the aggressiveness of the males, with the ability to produce and excrete a gas that sooths whatever inhauls it. We tested it on human subjects and found the effects to be similar to being under the influence of THC."

"Like being stoned doctor?" Sherman asked exhaling more smoke towards Stein.

"Yes general," Stein said with a small cough. "It worked to, the males were no longer aggressive and in fact they were almost completely submissive to the point of taking commands from _us_. Then we started to slowly lose the hives as the males no longer wanted to mate even when the females did due to the effects of the gas. It seems the effects lasted much longer in the xenomorph's we believe it was due to the fact that their blood is-"

"Doctor move along please I already know all I need to about their blood," Sherman said.

"Right," Stein said. "So we euthanized those females as well and reengineered the females yet again. They still have the ability to produce the gas but the effects were not as long lasting but the biggest different was the venom glands. The venom they produce is...well...a very potent aphrodisiac, in house we call these females sirens. This way they could still mate when they wanted to even if the males didn't. We didn't think this would be a problem but it seemed some of the males didn't like to be the non- dominant one. But the venom fixed that problem and we started to get xenomorphs that were not born from the queen that we had the possibility to control. They still grew just as quickly as the ones birthed from hosts. Then there was the accident and the containment breach."

"So these xenomorphs we have been engaging are the males?" Sherman asked. "Are they the ones that didn't use hosts?"

"Yes and no," Stein said. "There were only a select few that were born of the new females. You are fighting the ones left over from the hosts and from the first batch of females, the ones without the ability to produce the gas. This is why they are so aggressive still."

"What was to become of the queen?" Sherman asked truly curious now. "Wouldn't you not need her anymore?"

"The original plan was to phase her out yes," Stein explained. "We found that even when not birthed from her they still listened to her and this helped with the males' aggressiveness...a little anyway. So we kept her mainly as a figure head."

"Ok doctor," Sherman said knocking more ash from his cigar. "Explain how two of my soldiers got mixed up in all this and why they were actually defending two of your 'sirens'?"

"I can tell you why general but I can't tell you _why,"_ Stein explained. Sherman leaned forward and was about to stand up when Stein spoke quickly. "What I mean is I don't know why or how your soldiers got chosen as mates but I can explain why they killed those other soldiers. A combination of the gas, venom, the actually act of mating and pheromones the females passively produce causes her to bond to her mate on a level we have never seen before. At least with the male xenomorphs who didn't care about any kind of relationships and still don't but they would stay loyal to their mate...mostly, and defend her if necessary. It wasn't a complete success however as still most males took more than one mistress. However general as you know humans can become very dependent on a relationship and combine that with what these females can do and you have a bond on a completely different level."

"That still doesn't explain how they were able to kill two highly trained operatives," Sherman said his cigar over halfway depleted.

"The venom does have some secondary effects," Stein said flicking his eyes to the table and the photo of Nearmyer stabbing Reaper. "It increases a subjects' strength, endurance, stamina, reflexes and the ability to think quickly but most importantly it gets rid of the mind's thought of 'I can't do it'. General as you should know, because of your occupation, a human being is a lot stronger then they think. Most times it is the mind that gives up on the body as the body can keep going but the mind says it can't and thus it can't. With the venom it takes that away so it makes them stronger and then lets them actually be able to use their new abilities."

"So what you're saying is two of these 'sirens' abducted two of my soldiers," Sherman said his cigar almost burned to the nub. "Forced them to mate with them and now they are, for lack of a better word, in love with them to the point they would kill for them due to some chemicals inside of them?"

"Indeed," Stein said. "But what is love: nothing more than a chemical reaction in our brains." Sherman shot Stein a death stare as he put out his cigar.

"What course of action would you recommend to deal with these new threats doctor?" Sherman asked.

"Honestly general?" Stein asked. "I would try to capture them." Sherman was about to stand up again. "Not all the females. Just those two." Stein said pointing at a photo. "Along with the two soldiers. There are so many things that they could give us. A human xenomorph hybrid, a better understanding of the bonding process and not to mention the effects of the venom." Here Sherman looked up and gave just a hint he was interested, Stein saw this. "You saw how two naked and unarmed...pogs, I believe is what you called them, took down two Navy Seals."

"Green Berets," Sherman corrected.

"Right," Stein said." Imagine if you gave some venom to soldiers of their caliber? I would hesitate to use the word supper soldier general but I can't think of a better one."

"Thank you doctor," Sherman said getting to his feet. "You have given me a lot to think about. You may leave now the MPs outside will escort you back to your tent."

"Anytime general," Stein said getting to his feet as well.

"Send in Lieutenant Cross on your way out," Sherman ordered.

"Will do," Stein said turning and walking out. Sherman couldn't see it but Stein wore a evil grin across his face after planting the idea seed into Sherman's head. He left the tent and a moment later Lieutenant Cross walked in.

"You want to see me sir," Cross said standing across from Sherman.

"Yes I did lieutenant," Sherman said. "The two MIA privates did you find out who they were?"

"Yes sir," Cross said holding up two files. "I pulled their files as well. Roamer pair 12 Private Nearmyer and PFC Za-...Zur...Zue...Zuar..." Cross said trying to pronounce the other name. "uhm...nomenclature: Z."

"Well?" Sherman asked.

"Private Nearmyer age 20 enlisted right out of high school," Cross started reading Nearmyer's file. "Spent 54 weeks in training to become a 94M radar repair. Private First Class uhm...Z age 21 enlisted a year after high school and spent 45 weeks in training to become a 94H a TMDE support specialist, both the very definition of pogs. They have spent roughly two years in service counting their training periods. Both scored passing on their annual PT test nothing to really be proud of though, their run is their worst event. Nearmyer is a rifle sharpshooter while 'Z' is a rifle marksmen. Both were honor grads of their AIT classes, neither of them have received an article 15 or negative counseling. Neither has been deployed outside of the states. Sir all in all I could find nothing remarkable about these two."

"Maybe that's the point," Sherman said softly and then louder. "They were the furthest from the compound but still inside the yellow zone correct?"

"Yes sir," Cross said. Sherman picked up the photo of Z and Nearmyer being held by the xenomorphs. 'Could they had been chosen simply because they were the most secluded?' Sherman thought. 'Just being in the wrong place at the wrong time?'

"It can't be," Sherman said out loud but only so he could hear. "Could it be because they are pogs and aren't aggressive? Because if they wanted the cream of the crop they would have taken a commando. What do these bastards have that these freaks want? What do they know that we don't?"

"Say again sir?" Cross said as he was not able to hear Sherman clearly.

"The MP company we brought along what kind of crowd control equipment did they bring with them?" Sherman asked speaking loudly and switching gears.

"One moment sir," Cross said as he walked over to his table and started to look through more papers. Once he found the one he wanted he added it to his clipboard and stood back in front of Sherman again. "They have brought along full riot gear complete with shields and stun sticks."

"What about other less then lethal options?" Sherman asked retrieving another cigar from his pocket.

"Let's see," Cross said reading the list of equipment. "CS gas grenades, tasers, bean bag rounds for 12 gauge shotguns, 40mm shock rounds, along with the usual flashbangs and the like."

"What about any kind of tranquilizers lieutenant?" Sherman asked after he lit his cigar. Cross started to scan the paper sweeping his eyes down it quickly.

"Yes sir pre your orders," Cross said placing his finger on the paper. "Tranquilizers darts filled with large animal tranquilizer that are fired from special 12 gage shotgun shells."

"Excellent lieutenant," Sherman said. He quickly wrote something down on a piece of paper and handed it to Cross. "Round these up lieutenant."

"Right away sir," Cross said turning on his heel.

"Oh and lieutenant," Sherman said causing Cross to stop. "Patch me through to a team that isn't already inside the compound."

"Yes sir," Cross said walking over to a radio and changed the frequency.

Meanwhile still stalking through the compound's perimeter, with goggles pressed to their eyes and rifles pressed to their shoulders was Zulu team. They moved slowly and carefully combing ever inch of the grounds as Eagle seven flew overhead ready to shred anything not human. 300 meters away from the commandos hiding in a tree was the only other xenomorph to make it out of the compound. He was a male but born of a siren and unlike his bothers not nearly as aggressive. He was still very deadly and dangerous he just was stupidly aggressive like his brothers. They would have charged the commandos, without a second thought and been killed. He however watched them to determine the best course of action, he got this from his mother. He did want to kill the commandos, nothing would make him happier, this he got from his father but instead he watched them. He could tell these humans were not like the ones he had seen walking around the grounds before. He knew they had devices over their eyes that granted them better vision. He thought maybe he could separate them but they never moved in groups smaller then two. Plus they used other devices to communicate with each other and if one group stopped communicating with the others this would only make things worse for him. So he sat and watching waiting to see how things would play out.

His head perked up as two of the men headed in the direction of his tree. It seemed his choice was going to be made for him as he tensioned his body to pounce. Suddenly one of them stopped and pressed a hand to his ear, with his other hand he reached out and stopped the other. They stayed like that for several of his heartbeats until the one with a hand to his ear spoke.

"Yes sir we'll pack it in immediately," The human said. "Zulu team out." The one that had just been speaking then turned and moved at a quick pace away from him and his tree the other following. A few moments later he heard the thing in the sky return and the noise became deafening as it landed on the ground. The six men got inside of the thing from the sky and it rose into the dark air once again. He watched it go as he eased himself back down on the tree branch. It seemed his luck was changing: he made it out unseen and he remained undiscovered, if his luck held he would soon be able to slip away. He jumped to the ground and landed with only a muted thud as he ran deeper into the night.

As the xenomorph moved silently through the night, back in the staging area the commandos of Zulu team had just finished their brief from General Sherman himself and were heading to the arms tent. Inside waiting was Lieutenant Cross with the equipment that Sherman had wanted him to retrieve. They added riot gear to their already impressive armor, they strapped on segmented armor gauntlets that covered their hands, forearms, biceps, shins and thighs. Combined with their knee and elbow pads they already wore they were just about invincible if a bet cumbersome. The last thing they pulled on were helmets with the raise-able face shields and gas masks. Four of them grabbed heavily, bullet proof metal shields and nightsticks that had a taser on the end of them. The other two loaded special shotgun shells into pump shotguns. Once they were suited up and armed Zulu team re-boarded the helicopter and prepared for insertion into the compound and more importantly the maintenance tunnels, their targets were somewhere down there. They were told how important they were, told how important it was to bring them in alive, all of them. They were not told about the four commandos that they killed for fear this would introduce unwanted emotions into the mix. They had their orders and they were going to follow them to the letter or there would be hell to pay. The mood had changed inside the helicopter as they thought about how they had to capture two x-rays instead of just killing them.


	8. The storm

Instead of splitting up Xena and her sister stayed side by side moving furtherer through the tunnels. Right behind them also side by side was Nearmyer and Z. The two xenomorphs lead them to a room that they had not yet been in. It was a bunkroom for 24-hour emergency maintenance staff. There were three bunk beds against two opposite walls, for a total of six and along the back wall was a bathroom. Connected to the bunk room was a small kitchen like space complete with two burner stove and mini-fridge.

'This shall be our nest,' Xena said only Z being able to hear her.

"Nest?" Z asked confused.

'Where we shall live,' Xena's sister explained speaking(or thinking) to Nearmyer.

"Oooohhh," Nearmyer said understanding then turning to Z. "This is where we are going to live."

"Ah," Z said understanding now. The thoughts that they were MIA technically AWOL from the army, they were going to be living in a compound that wasn't designed for living, commandos were fighting tooth and nail for every inch of said compound, or their families never entered their minds. All they cared about was sending the rest of their lives, however long they were, with their mate.

"What about food?" Nearmyer asked thinking a little ahead. "For us and you."

'There is a sufficient stock in this chamber,' Xena's sister explained. 'To survive for a prolong period of time. We can always retrieve more.' Satisfied Nearmyer walked over to one of the bunks and flopped down on the bottom bunk.

"Dibbs on bottom," Nearmyer sang.

"You son of a bitch," Z said as he jumped up and pulled himself to the top bunk over Nearmyer. There were plenty of other bottom bunks, odd habits die hard however as they were used to having to fill a bunk before moving to the next one. Z stretched out and placed his hands behind his head as he stared up at the ceiling.

"Hey Z," Nearmyer called up his voice slightly muffed due to the mattresses between them.

"Yeah," Z said staring at the ceiling still, his hands behind his head.

"Does your lady have a name?" Nearmyer asked.

"Yeah," Z said. Here there was a long moment of silence.

"Well?" Nearmyer asked.

"Xena," Z said as he closed his eyes remembering. "I call her Xena."

"Like what? You choose that name?" Nearmyer asked a little confused.

"Yeah," Z said his eyes still closed. "She didn't have one, I asked if I could give her one and she said yes."

"And you choose Xena?" Nearmyer asked.

"Problem?" Z asked.

"No that's fucking awesome," Nearmyer admitted. He then turned to Xena's sister who was sitting beside his bunk her tail moving through the air. "So do you have a name?"

'I do not,' She said. 'Would a name please you?'

"Yes," Nearmyer explained. "I just want to know what to call you."

'You may call me whatever you wish,' She said as she bowed her head respectfully. Nearmyer had to stop and think, he wanted to pick a name that was fitting but one she would also like.

"How about... Zara?" Nearmyer asked after some thought.

'Zara,' She said as she bowed her head in thought. A long moment of awaked silence followed.

"Do you not like it?" Nearmyer asked starting to sit up. In one move she jumped up and land on his chest forcing him on to his back again.

'This name pleases me,' Zara said with a purr as she muzzled her head under his chin.

"Oh good," Nearmyer said softly as he wrapped his arms around her. He then kissed her on the head and this caused her tail to move through the air happily. Her sweet aroma reached his nose and he felt the blood flow to the right places as he stiffened. Zara sensed this, lifted her head up, crawled back and started to muzzle his groin with her face. Nearmyer sighed in pleasure and remembrance as she loosened his belt and pulled his pants down his boots preventing her from taking them completely off. She was about to remove his underwear as well when a loud _thunk_ caused them to look over as Z's boots hit the ground after he had taken them off. Nearmyer and Zara both froze in their current position and listen to see what Z was going to. The top bunk gave a soft squeak as he rolled back over. Nearmyer then could hear Z's breathing become calm and even and knew he was going to sleep soon.

"Where were we?" Nearmyer asked in a whisper as he gazed up at Zara. She gently pulled his underwear down and rubbed her face against his bare erect member causing him to sigh in pleasure again. She was about to take him into her mouth again when he picked her up and flipped her around so her ass was inches from his face. He wasted no time, started to lick her slit this causing her to hiss in pleasure as she used her tall to wrap around the back of his neck to pull him closer. She then took his member into her mouth and started to gently suck on it as his tongue moved in and out of her. Meanwhile Xena sat on the floor and watched them feeling a longing rise in her as she looked up at the top bunk where her mate lay unaware of what was happening right below him. In a single leap she jumped up and landed on his chest causing him to grunt in surprise and a small amount of pain as some air was forced out of him.

"What? What is it?" Z demanded suddenly alert in a whisper as he wasn't able to yell as he recovered his breath.

'I just missed your company,' Xena said with a purr as she rubbed his chest.

"Oh," Z said as he pulled her so she was laying on him. "I missed you too." One of her hands snaked down into his pants and grabbed his stiff member.

'I have noticed,' Xena said with a purr. Z's cheeks flushed.

"We can't," Z stammered in a whisper. "I mean what about Nearmyer and your sister? They are still in here."

'They are currently distracted,' Xena said started to slowly stroke his member. 'They will not notice us.'

"Are you sure?" Z asked.

'Trust me,' Xena said moving her head in and muzzling the side of his neck. He wrapped his arms tightly around her and rolled them both over so he was on top of her. 'That's more like it.' Z started to kiss the side of her neck and worked his way down her body till he was above her moist and sweet smelling slit. She hissed in bliss as his tongue was pressed in and out of her, as she placed a hand on the back of his head. Her tail snaked up his back and draped over his shoulder as he used two fingers to complement his tongue.

Back on the bottom bunk Zara had positioned herself so her womanhood was pressing against the tip of Nearmyer's stiff member. With a hiss of pleasure she slowly slid down it till it was buried up to the hilt inside of her. Nearmyer didn't give her a chance to do anything else as he started to thrust at an upward angle. He then reached up and grabbed her hips as she started to slowly circle them. Nearmyer exhaled in bliss as she circled, as he felt every inch of her moist insides. Her tail went under his back and pulled him into a sitting position and he wrapped his arms around her back his hands grabbing the back of her shoulders, both their heads dangerously close to hitting the bottom of Z's mattress. The two didn't notice as she started to bounce up and down on top of his lap. He leaned in and kissed her neck her wonderful sent filling his nose.

Right above them on the top bunk Z had removed his pants and underwear position his hips so the tip of his penis was inside of Xena. He then thrusted shallowly not going any deeper then the tip, causing Xena to coo in pleasure and then hiss in annoyance. This brought an evil grin to his lips as he knew he was driving her crazy. Not being able to stand it anymore her tail wrapped around his waist and pulled him fully into her. Deciding he had teased her enough he started to thrust slowly and full as his hands reached up and started to gently massage her breasts. His hands then went to her hips as he started to increase his speed. Her own hands went up and grabbed his back her nails lightly digging into his skin. This caused a shiver to go down his spine and him to sigh in pleasure. He focused on his thrusting as he felt something start to build up inside of him. He remained at a slow pace to keep the bunk from rocking or making unnecessary noises. As both of them started to near their climaxes, he didn't care anymore as he sped up the force gently causing the entire bunk to rock back and forth.

On the bottom bunk Nearmyer and Zara didn't notice as they also neared their own climaxes. Zara had leaned backwards bracing herself with her hands, arching her back in the process leaving all the work up to Nearmyer then. Nearmyer was on his back again and thrusted upwards as quickly as he could Z completely forgotten. He reached up and grabbed her back and pulled her up so she could bounce along with his thrusting. She then increased her own pace as fluids dripped from her and onto his thighs as she neared finishing. Right before she did she leaned forward her breasts pressing against his chest. She started to move only her hips sliding up and down Nearmyer's slick member. With a hiss she came, more fluids spilling out of her and onto Nearmyer. As she did she sat down on top of him so he was fully inside of her as she slowly circled her hips to ensure she felt ever inch of him. This was the final straw for Nearmyer as he finished himself his seamen flowing into her. She slowly lifted herself off of him his excess seamen dripping out of her. She curled up on his chest her head under his chin as he held her.

Still on the top bunk Z had reached a fevered pace as Xena's tail reached up and wrapped around his waist tying them together. He moved so he was in a kneeing position and placed his hands under her back as he lifted her up so her back was arched. She wrapped her les around him crossing her ankles behind his back. He could tell she was close and he wasn't far behind himself. She suddenly jerked forward forcing him onto his back, so she was on top of him as she started to bounce up and down using her feet as leverage. He reached up and grabbed her ass and squeezed it firmly as he let her take over. She threw her head back and hissed as she came her juices flowing out of her. With a few last forceful thrust from him he came himself with a grunt as he tried to remain quiet. As he finished she pumped her hips forward the inside of her slit rub against his ejaculating penis. The pleasure he felt from it caused even more seamen to shoot from the tip. After he had finished she got off of him and rolled onto her side and Z immediately snuggled up to her as he draped an am over her.

Back at the T junction that Charlie team had found, the fully suited up Zulu team meet up with Whiskey team. Whiskey formed a circle around Zulu, three in front and three behind, as they moved down the tunnels. They moved meeting very little resistance, as it seemed the dwindling surviving xenomorphs retreat to protect the queen at all costs. When the 12 commandos reached a door they would stop, Whiskey would form a semicircle around the door facing out, Zulu team would send a fiber optic probe under the door and then go in a search the room anyway. Zulu team would return and they would move onto the next doorway. They did this till they reached the showers where they found the four dead commandos of Charlie team actual. One member of Zulu team turned off the water careful not to step in the blood, as a second member collected one of each of their dog tags.

"And when he gets to heaven," One of the commandos said in a somber tone. "He's going to stand in front of St. Peter and say: _Another soldier reporting sir! I have served my time in hell._"

"Amen," Another commando said just as somberly after he crossed himself. The one that had collected the dog tags used a gloved thumb to whip the blood off of them before placing them into his left shelve pocket. Zulu team walked out of the showers and re-linked with Whiskey.

"We got four KIA in there," One of them said. "Mark it so we can get them buried when this shit is cleaned up."

"Roger," A Whiskey commando said before they started moving through the tunnels again. They soon reach a door marked _bunkroom _and one of Zulu stuck the probe under the door and watched a tiny hand held screen.

"Possible confirmation on target objectives," He reported. "Two x-rays and two pogs."

"Location and status of weapons?" Zulu team leader demanded.

"The pogs are unarmed," He reported. "The x-rays always present a threat. The two pogs are standing near the door in the middle of the room um..getting dressed. The x-rays are on two different bunks watching them."

"Alright this is it," The leader said. "I want this done right and by the numbers." The members of Whiskey team formed their semicircle again but this time knelt, while the one with the probe withdrew it and planted a low powered breaching charge on the door to the right of the door handle. The leader pulled a flashbang from his vest and pulled the pin but kept the spoon depressed preventing it from arming. The rest of Zulu team, which was the four shield carriers and the other shotgun wielder, lined up along the wall on the left side shields up front. Zulu team leader set off the breaching charge destroying the lock(even though the door wasn't locked) and blowing the door open. The door had just bounce off the wall inside the room when the leader tossed in the flashbang. It landed in the room bounced off the floor once and then went off blinding the already deafened and confused privates. As soon as the flashbang went off the four shield carriers rushed in and spotted their targets the two privates standing in the middle of the room with their hands over their eyes as they tried to clear their vision. The shield carriers increased their speed and ducked their heads behind their shields as they lowered their shoulders. Their shields hit the two un-expecting privates head on two shields per pog, driving them back and slamming them into a wall pinning them with the shields. Then just to make sure they were completely submissive two of them used their tasers to poke them in their stomachs forcing their muscles to lock up.

Xena and Zara where also stunned by the flashbang but recovered much quicker than any human and they saw their mates in peril. They both leapt through the air Xena from the top bunk and Zara from the bottom. However Zulu team leader and the other team member had rushed in armed with the shotguns. They both took aim, the leader at Xena, the other at Zara, tracked them as they leapt and fired simultaneously. The leader's projectile when a hair high and passed over Xena missing by millimeters, the other team member had been spot on the tranquilizer dart hitting Zara in the side. Instead of hitting her intended target she hit the floor hard and instead of landing gracefully as she normally would have she rolled once landing on her back. She drunkenly go to her feet again, as the heavy tranquilizer worked its way through her. She tried to leap and tackle her target again but only managed to get a foot off the ground before she hit the floor hard again and lay there breathing heavily.

As this happened Xena had made contact with her target, one of the shield wielding commandos that was pinning Z to the wall, and more specifically the one shocking him with the taser. She hit the commando from the side, the dart just missing her, knocking him to the ground his shield pressed to his chest. As his back hit the ground he ducked behind the thick metal as her inner mouth shot out denting the shield but not going through. The other commando that had been pinning Z still continued to do so as they(the shield carriers) were told to ignore the x-rays and focus on the soldiers. The one left pinning Z backed off a little bit so he could use his shield to slam Z into the wall again and start to shock him with his own taser. Meanwhile the team leader and other shotgun wielder pumped their shotguns the leader slightly faster than his counterpart. He took aim at Xena again getting a textbook, prefect sight picture. Despite the eminence pain he felt Z still saw the leader taking aim at his mate and reacted.

"LEAVE HER ALONE!" He scouted pushing against the shield and the burly commando behind it despite the fact 500 volts was passing through his body. The sudden jerk actually rocking the commando back on his heels.

"The fuck?" The commando mutter under his breath just before he slammed Z into the wall again. He gritted his teeth had jabbed the taser more forcefully into Z's side causing him to grunt in pain as he still tried to free himself. Just before Z's grunt of pain the leader and partner had fired again. The leader hit Xena in the side stopping her assault on the pinned commando's shield with her second mouth as she moved drunkenly off of him. The commando used his shield to bash her across the face knocking her to the ground and as she tried to get to her feet the leader hit her with a second dart. Zara now with two darts in her, herself was knocked out cold on the floor. The commando that was on the floor quickly got to his feet and ran up to Z slamming him against the wall the hardest as he added his taser to his partner's. Z screamed in agonizing pain just before he passed out and slumped down held in place only by the shields. Nearmyer who had been held in place by two shields and commandos the entire time didn't stand a chance. He still struggled and managed to knock them back a few times before they both tasered him simultaneously causing him to pass out sooner than Z. After both xenomorphs and privates were unconscious the shield carriers backed off letting Z and Neamyer flop to the ground still out cold.

"You good?" The leader asked the commando who had been pinned by Xena.

"Yeah I'm good," He said and besides the now heavily dented shield he was completely unharmed.

"Central this Zulu team," The leader said speaking this into his radio. "Targets are down and in custody over." Two shield carriers dropped their shields as they used flex cuffs to bind Z and Nearmyer's hands behind their backs. They then used more flex cuffs and 5-50 cord to bind Zara and Xena multiple times as each was darted a third time. Central said something back to the team leader.

"Roger that heading topside now. Zulu team out," The leader said as he moved to help his men. They then handed the humans off to Whiskey team who headed off to the surface. Zulu team kept the xenomorphs themselves as they carried them up to the surface as well.

As they headed topside the rest of the commandos inside the complex had circled the hanger like storage room where the queen and surviving xenomorphs waited. Among them was Foxtrot team and part of that team was a commando that had a colorful drawing of a screaming skull on the side of his helmet. The skull was set against a blazing fire and wore a strange hat that had many different points with a small jingly bell at the end of each point. This picture was directly linked to his nickname. He was standing shoulder to shoulder with a team member as they used a large chest high cardboard box as a work table. Both had emptied their SPAZ shotguns of their buckshot rounds and the one with the colorful helmet upended his assault pack dumping its contents onto the box. He found a small cardboard box of shells and dumped them out in front of him, they were green with a red strip in the middle running all the way around them. He then found a different box and dumped them out in front of his partner, these were gray with a yellow strip. Both started loading their different shells into their shotguns along with the rest of their team half loading the green, red stripped the other loading the gray yellow stripped. The two worked in silence pushing rounds into their shotguns' tubes each round making a hollow _thunk_. They would have stayed silent if the commando with his helmet drawn on hadn't seen the ammo, magazines, various grenades, knifes and other gear that was on the box that had spilled from his assault pack.

"We got nukes, knifes, sharp sticks...I am the ultimate badass!" He said with a smile a mile wide on his face. His partner turned to look at him with confusion on his face as he tried to figure out what had provoked him to say what he did and why. His eyes widened in understanding a second later as his partner continued to smile.

"You know I don't recall that being in there," He said starting to load his shotgun again.

"Well I did paraphrase it a little," The joker admitted.

"I still don't remember it being in any of them," His partner admitted himself. "Which one was it in?"

"Come on man, the second one arguably the best one," He said trying to jog his partner's memory. "Oh wait...I guess that was in the director's cut version."

"I still don't understand how you can make jokes in the middle of missions let alone combat," His partner said with a shake of his head. "But I guess that is how you earned the name Jester."

"Hey," Jester said setting the shotgun down after it was fully loaded. "My ability to produce humor in dire, stressful and dangerous situations is a coping mechanism used to rationalize any of the said situations to remain rational, focused and to prevent myself and those around me from panicking." His partner stared at him and only managed to blink as Jester laughed loudly causing his partner to shake his head again.

"I can never tell if you're fucking serious or not," He said with another shake of his head.

"Dude I'm never serious," Jester said in a serious tone and straight face. His partner looked at him again and blinked unsure of what to say before Jester burst out laughing again. With yet another shake of his head he started to load the shell holders mounted on the side of the shotgun, so once he ran out of ammo he could pull them from there instead of a pouch or pocket reducing reload time. Once all the shotguns were loaded Foxtrot team leader, a commando with a red bullseye on his helmet, keyed his radio.

"This is Foxtrot we are good to go over," Bullseye said. The rest of the commandos, most of which were near a large garage style door, heard this and readied themselves. This was it the moment they had been waiting for: the prime target. Inside the room the remaining xenomorphs sensed the humans outside and readied themselves as well. They hid in the rafters, behind objects, on walls, hell some squared up with the large door. Suddenly the door blew in as the brick of C4 detonated killing the two xenomorphs that had the poor judgment to stand right in front of it. At least two dozen grenades flew into the room a second later, one for each commando outside. After they went off in quick succession the humans surged into the room and quickly fanned out, forming overlapping fields of fire.

The queen let out a hiss and the xenomorphs that survived the blasts charged the humans leaping at them from different angles and elevations. The commandos were ready however and many were blasted out of the air shredded by many rounds from their SCARs. These humans were smart too as only half fired at once and then once they stopped to reload the other half opened fire to ensure there were no gapes in the wall of bullets that kept the xenomorphs at bay. They weren't without loses however as even once in a while a xenomorph would get close enough to drive a tail through one of their faces or splash them with their dangerous blood as bullets ripped into them. The queen watched in disgust as her offspring(well most of _her _offspring) were slaughter in front of her eyes. With a hiss she started to lumber forward meaning to deal with the intruders herself when she sensed something behind her and turned to see what it was. It was the six commandos of Foxtrot team that had used a smaller door to enter the room quietly and she then realized too late that the others were just a diversion. These commandos were all armed with SPAZs and took aim at the queen as she let out a hiss in anger.

Jester and the other two that had the green shells loaded opened fire first as the other three waited. The beautiful thing about the SPAZ was that it could switch between pump action and semiautomatic. Jester and the others used the latter to hose the queen with fire aiming for the face and stomach which they had been briefed were her soft spots. The 12 gage frag rounds hitting her, blowing holes in her body and spraying the area around her in her green blood. The frag rounds were basically small grenades fired from a shotgun that packed less of a punch then a standard hand grenade but hit harder than a 50 cal round. Once Jester and the two others had emptied their weapons they immediately knelt to give their battle buddies a clear line of fire as they reloaded as fast as they could. The second groups' shotguns were loaded with projectile-less incendiary rounds that a popular video game had dubbed _dragon's breath_. When these hit the queen her skin was set ablaze and soon her entire body was engulfed in flames. Soon they too had depleted their ammo and they knelt to reload as well but Jester's group was still reloading.

The queen still burning and with chunks missing from her body hissed in pain and rage as she still advanced on Foxtrot team. The few remain xenomorphs rushed to save their queen, this was their mistake as they were only gunned down from behind by the rest of the commandos still slaughtering them. Jester and his group had reloaded by then, before the queen had reached them, and opened fire pulling the trigger as fast as he could go and still aim not bothering to hit the soft spot anymore. This brought the queen to her knees as the explosive rounds ripped her apart and she soon fell to her stomach still burning, the smell of burning meat filled the air. The other group fired more incendiary rounds kicking up the slightly dying blaze again. The rest of the xenomorphs had been dispatched and the commandos that had been on crowd control formed a line facing the burning, dying queen, reloaded and fired a whole magazine each peppering her body with rounds.

After that all the shooting stopped the only sounds were the crackling and soft pops of flames and the metallic clicks of shifting weapons. They stood and watched her burn for awhile unsure of what to do the fighting coming to such a sudden end. They snapped out of it as they started to sweep the room looking for any xenomorphs that might have been hiding still. Others went to help the wounded the best they could as others went to collect the dog tags of the dead. Jester keyed his radio.

"Central this is Foxtrot team," He said. "We are code yellow. Primary target is down beginning sweep of complex looking for stragglers. Over."

"Roger that Foxtrot," Central said into his earphone. "Can you give a count of KIA and WIA? Over."

"Roger that will report back in a few Foxtrot out," Jester said ending the conversation.

Back in the command tent a cheer went up as the lieutenants got to their feet and applauded as they heard the code yellow. They turned and congratulated each other on a job well done. Lieutenant Cross walked up and stood beside General Sherman as he stood and stared at the TV monitors, he was the only one that hadn't joined in the celebration.

"We've done it sir," Cross said carefully. "We've retaken the compound and we have even captured two live x-rays."

"What does Dr. Stein have to say about them?" Sherman asked staring at his last unlit cigar as he twisted it in his hand. "The captured x-rays?"

"Frankly sir," Cross explained. "He's more interested in the two soldiers that were captured along with them. He says we need to keep them sedated till he can flush out their systems."

"Very well," Sherman said sticking the cigar back into his chest pocket. "Have them taken under guard to the base's hospital along with the x-rays making sure to keep them sedated as well."

"Uhm sir," Cross said dropping his gaze to the floor.

"What is it lieutenant?" Sherman demanded. "Speak up!"

"It's Dr. Stein sir," Cross said. "He wants us to move the soldiers and the x-rays to a civilian hospital." Then before Sherman could say anything. "He's very adamant about it sir. This hospital is also owned by Biotech and he says it's the only place that can safely hold the x-rays and also treat the soldiers." Here Sherman said nothing as he quickly removed the cigar from his pocket again. He stuck it in his mouth and chewed on it angrily for a few moments before he lit it. He exhaled a cloud of smoke the nicotine clamming him down, he stared at the smoke as it dissipated.

"Very well lieutenant," Sherman said at last. "The good doctor may have his pets and my soldiers at his godforsaken hospital. He is to return my soldiers to my command the moment they are treated and well enough for duty. Take a platoon of the 52nd infantry company and a squad of Green Berets and lock that hospital down. Tell the bullet sponges just enough so they understand this is still not a drill, inform the commandos of the situation."

"Right away sir," Cross said turning to leave.

"Oh and lieutenant," Sherman said exhaling more smoke. "Start telling the none essential companies to break it down, pack it in and start heading back to base."

"Yes sir," Cross said snapping to.

One of those none essential companies, well batteries actually, were the two batteries of the 7th air artillery regiment. The soldiers that were staged in the open field four miles from the Biotech complex hurried to get their MLRSs mobile and equipment packed up. Two of these soldiers were Private North and Corporal Hall: both were 94Ps MLRS repair more commonly known as rocket jockeys. Their job wasn't to fire the rockets but to maintain and fix the MLRSs. They had been brought along for two simple reasons: one they were part of the batteries and two just in case anything went wrong and needed to be fixed. Being a NCO, a junior NCO, but a NCO none the less Hall watched North lug a heavy toolbox and throw it in the back of a deuce 'n' half. She crossed her arms as she watched him go back and pick up a box of replacement parts.

"Let's go private," Hall said. "It's six in the morning the sun will be up in an hour and I would like to go to sleep before it does."

"Yes corporal," North panted as he barely managed to get the heavy box into the back of the truck. "This could go faster if I had a little help."

"You're doing a fine job private," Hall said a smile on her face. "I'd hate to get in your way."

"Understood crop-rale," North said as he picked up the last metal box which contained greased cogs.

"Are you back sassing me pry-vite?" Hall demanded narrowing her eyes.

"No corporal," North said as he placed the last box in the bed of the deuce 'n' half. "I would never back talk a NCO." He lifted the tailgate up and locked it in place and was about to jump up into the bed when a booming voice stopped him.

"Let's go! The convoy's already moving!" A tired and frustrated sergeant shouted. "Get your truck started and let's move!"

"Right away sergeant," Hall said as the sergeant turned around and stormed off. Hall then turned towards North. "Get the truck started and ready to move out."

"But corporal," North protested. "I have to tie the shit down in the back."

"It's ok private I'll do it," Hall said jumping into the back. "Just get the truck running."

"I guess you can do something," North muttered as he walked towards the cab and climbed inside.

"I heard that!" Hall called after him. "Your ass is mine when we get back on post!" In response North started the large engine black diesel smoke bellowing out the stack as the vehicle's frame started to vibrate. Hall started to use bungee cords and other straps to tie and hold the boxes and creates in place. She was almost done when the truck lurched forward suddenly knocking her on her ass. She walked to the wall that separated the cab from the back of the deuce and pounded on it with her fist.

"What the hell is going on?!" She demanded shouting to be heard over the engine.

"My apologies corporal!" North shouted back. "I was ordered by some lieutenant to move out! Looks like you're going to have to ride in the back!" The truck hit a bump and Hall was almost knocked on her ass again.

"Fantastic," Hall muttered as she moved to the back and lowered the canvas flap blocking the back of the truck and keeping the dust, the tires kicked up, out. It got very dark the only light coming from rips in the canvas cover over her head. She knocked a few lose tools from a metal seat and sat down heavily. North made a turn and joined the rest of the convoy becoming the last truck in the convoy. Watching this convoy was the only other surviving xenomorph and only surviving male. This was how he was going to make his escape from this place, hopping on one of the trucks. He had seen that back of the trucks were only filled with cargo and would hide him from view with their canvas covers. As the last truck in the convoy rolled pasted him he rushed out of the bushes he hid in and leapt up in the back making the canvas flap flip inward before it settled back into place. When he landed he made a heavy thud on the metal floor and knocked over a toolbox causing the tools to chatter to the floor. He then saw the human that was sitting in the back close to the cap and let out a low hiss.

Hall had turned to look as the noise the falling tools made was very loud and saw the monster that had appeared in the truck and opened her mouth to scream. Then the thing hissed and moved a finger up to his lips in a shush gesture as it drew a line across its throat with the tip of its tail. Hall nodded her head in understanding as she closed her mouth slowly.

"Is everything alright back there?!" North shouted back unable to see due to the metal wall between the cab and bed. Hall looked back at the xenomorph as he drew another line across his throat with his tail.

"Yeah I'm good!" Hall shouted still staring at the xenomorph. "A toolbox just fell over!"

"You should've tied it down better!" North shouted with a laugh. He then stayed quiet unaware of the threat in the back of his truck. Hall stared at the creature unsure of what to do as it sat on its haunches with his tail wrapped around him. He glance over at the human and was unsure of what to do himself. The part that spoke for his father told him to kill her, but the part that spoke on his mother's behalf said something different. It told him that if he killed her he would only alert the human leaders of his presence which would only cause them to hunt him. But if he let her live she would only inform her leaders anyway his father's side told him. They will never believe her his mother's side countered. He agreed with his mother's side and would allow her to live.

Hall sat staring at the xenomorph as he stared straight ahead not even glancing her way. She wished she was armed with a rifle, pistol, hell she'd take her chances with a knife. She then spotted a rather large monkey wrench on the floor under a seat in front of her. She slowly reached down, bending at the waist acting like she was tying her boot. Her hand closed around the wrench as she looked down. She slowly straightened back up and looked back over at the xenomorph his face now inches from hers as he had seen what she was doing. He let out a low hiss as he shook his head in a no-no gesture holding out his claw. Like a kid caught with something they weren't supposed to have she handed the wrench over to the xenomorph. He accepted the wrench and tossed it to the opposite side of the truck. He then moved away from her and resumed his statue like position. Feeling defeated Hall hung her head in shame unsure of what to do again, when a sweet aroma reached her nose. She jerked her head up as she instantly wanted more and to find out where it was coming from. She turned her head, it seem to be coming from the xenomorph. It seemed he also got his mother's ability to passively produce the sweet smelling pheromones.

Hall couldn't believe it but she found herself scooting closer to him to get more of his sent. He had sensed her moving closer to him but not in a threatening manner and this surprised him. Then her own sent reached him and he could tell she was becoming sexual aroused and this aroused him. She moved so she was sitting as close as she could without touching him and inhaled his sweet scent. He too turned his head slightly to enjoy her sent as well. They stayed like that for awhile until the truck hit a bump and caused the xenomorph to fall onto Hall. He tried to get up and off of her when she reached up and grabbed one of his wrists and pulled him back on to her. She then kissed the side of his neck this causing him to move his tail through the air happily as he got an erection. Hall eyed it and reached a hand up to gently grab it and started to slowly stroke it. Her other hand reached into her pants and past her underwear to gently rub her slit the vibration of the truck adding to it.

He reached out and pulled her ACU jacket apart ripping the zipper in the process. She let go of his member and pulled her other hand out of her pants so she could raise her arms above her head so he could remove her tan shirt. Without a moment's hesitation he ripped her bar off, her firm and full breasts springing forth. Her hands returned to their original positions as he leaned in and used his second mouth to gently suck on her left breast. This caused her to sigh and arch her back in pleasure. He pulled himself up and pulled her pants down to her ankles as she released his stiff member. He positioned his hips to so the tip of his penis was pressing against her slit as she arched her back again wanting. He slowly eased into her savoring every second as she sighed in pleasure again. He started to trust slowly but fully into her, the momentum gently rocking her breasts.

She reached up and wrapped her arms around his back to pull him closer so she could better smell his sent. He started to thrust quicker and she started to moan softly her nails digging into his back. She started to feel something build up inside of her as she focused on what he was doing. Her moaning was getting louder and she had to gently bite his shoulder to keep from being heard. With a loud moan that was muffled by his shoulder she came the vibration of the truck magnifying her orgasm. As her orgasm traveled through her body like a bolt of lightning, he thrusted forcefully just before he came himself. With a hiss seamen flowed out of him and into her the excess spilling onto the floor. She reached up and pulled him closer as he stayed inside of her for awhile longer before he pulled his softened member out of her. The two held each other for a long while letting the motion of the truck gently rock them.

Suddenly his head shot up and he moved away from her quickly. She sat up and was about to pull him back onto her when he jumped out the back of the truck. When he did so it pushed the canvas flap out letting in some early dawn light. Then the flap swung back closed as she was left in darkness missing him already. She slowly started to get dress again and wondered if she would ever see him again, something inside of her said she would. 20 minutes later the truck came to the stop and she jumped out into the early morning air. Private North climbed down from the truck's cab after shutting the engine off to check on Hall.

"What happen?" North asked referring to Hall's ACU jacket.

"It was your fucking driving," Hall explained. "No don't think I forgot about that comment you made earlier. Drop and give me 50, then once that is done you can unload the truck yourself." Hall walked away as North started to do his 50 push-ups, but once she was out of sight he got up and climbed in the back of the truck to unload it.

"What's the smell?" North asked himself as he picked up a tool box.


	9. Any time

Nearmyer awoke lying in a white bed, covered in white sheets in a room with white walls. He could hear a steady beeping that sounded far away, but knew it was nearby, and his throat was incredibly dry as if he hadn't swallowed anything for a long while. To say he was awake was an overstatement as he could only open his eyes enough to see blurry shapes, he wasn't entirely sure he was really wake and the two other occupants in the room couldn't tell he was awake either.

"Day three," A nurse said writing on Nearmyer's chart while speaking to the other nurse. "Toxicology reports his system has been cleared and sedation drip has been stopped. He should wake in a day or two."

"Heart rate and breathing are normal," The second nurse said as she looked at Nearmyer's monitor. "Saline bag needs to be changed." She said holding and turning over the almost empty IV bag. Nearmyer managed to part his lips, the long period of them not being used left them stuck together and this caused him a small amount of pain when he peeled them apart. He tried to speak, tried to get a message past his dry throat but it wouldn't come. He moved his tongue around in a futile attempt to wet his mouth, but it to was dry and it was like rubbing two pieces of sandpaper together. With nothing short of pure concentrated will Nearmyer managed to get a message past his dry throat.

"Water," He croaked weakly. The nurse who was holding his IV bag suddenly looked down at him unsure of what she heard. "Water please." He managed to crock again the actually act of talking paining him. The nurse dropped his IV bag and pulled a small flashlight from her scrub shirt pocket. She peeled his eyelids up and shinned the light into his pupils, Nearmyer unable to defend himself.

"He's awake," She said turning to face the second nurse. "Get the doctor."

"He's currently interviewing the other one," The second nurse explained. "He woke up earlier this morning."

"Water please," Nearmyer croaked again.

"Of course sweetie in just a second," The kind nurse said putting the flashlight away. "Then just inform him that the second subject is awake." The nurse holding the chart nodded and left Nearmyer's room. The other then took a jug of water that was on a table next to his bed and poured some into a paper cup. He made to grab it but his muscles were weak from being inactive for so long and his arm fell short of his target. The nurse then held the cup up to his dry, cracked lips for him and tipped it back so he could drink. The cool water flowed into his mouth and trickled down his desert like throat feeling to good for words. After she had emptied the cup into Nearmyer's mouth she placed it back on the table and helped him into a sitting position so he could swallow easier. With his throat a little moist and his mouth wet Nearmyer managed to speak with a little more ease.

"Where's Z?" He asked weakly.

Z was sitting in a stainless steel chair at a stainless steel table dressed in white scrubs. On the table in front of his was a paper cup filled with steaming black coffee. He ignored it however as he used his right hand to twist the white medical band around his left wrist. He then ran the back of his nails under his chin his fingers feeling the three day stubble that had taken root there. This caused him to flick his eyes around nervously for the last thing he needed was for a sergeant to come in and see him out of uniform and unshaven.

"Relax," Dr Stein said, he was the only other person in the room. "There isn't a sergeant in miles of this place."

"How can I relax?" Z demanded as his hands returned to the table. "I'm being interrogated and since that is the case the only thing I am required to tell you is my name, rank and service number. And since my service number is just my social security number I don't think I'll tell you that."

"This is a interview not a interrogation," Dr. Stein chuckled. "This is just a break room for hospital employees. That's why it's well lit, has more them one table, and a counter with a soda machine." Z looked around still skeptical his eyes landing on a mirror that was on one plain wall and stayed there. With a heavily sigh Stein got to his feet, walked over to the mirror and took it off the wall, showing Z that there was just painted drywall behind it and not a camera.

"Satisfied?" Stein asked as he sat back down across from Z.

"Why not," Z said with a shrug. "So what is this 'interview' about doc?"

"I need to know exactly what you remember about your accident that lead you to be hospitalized, so I can gage the amount of mental damage if any," Stein explained. Z rolled his eyes.

"Like I have told you before," Z said sipping some of his coffee. "I was on patrol with Nearmyer. We were walking then we fell into a hole, I hit the ground very hard and then I don't remember anything after that. Besides you have already told me what happened: we fell into some kind of maintenance tunnels, our masks were cracked and were breathed in a gas that had leaked into the tunnels."

"Yes however you were not found near the hole," Dr. Stein said. "You and Private Nearmyer were found in a bunkroom far away from where the hole had opened up. Do you not remember that?"

"No I do not," Z said sipping more of his coffee.

"How could you have ended up so far from the hole if you clammed to be knocked out?" Dr. Stein asked.

"Hey I never said that," Z said in his own defense. "I just told you that the last thing I remember was falling down a hole and hitting the ground very hard. I couldn't tell you how I or Nearmyer ended up where you found us maybe we slept walked there or something?"

"I think you might actually remember more," Dr. Stein said writing on a file. "Your subconscious might have suppressed the memories due to the effects of your injuries or the gas you were exposed to down there. With your permission I would like to put you under a hypnotic state to see if you can remember anything more."

"Hypnosis huh?" Z asked scratching his stubble again. "Sorry doc no way in hell you're hypnotizing me. I've seen the movies, I go under then wake up with a bloody asshole and stiff jaw. No thank you." The professional Dr. Stein couldn't help but crake a smile at the young soldier's joke.

"Very well," Stein said writing more onto the file as he got to his feet. "If you won't let me help you there are just a few more tests we need to run before we get you sent back to base."

"Post," Z corrected.

"Of course," Stein said walking towards the door and opening it letting in the noise of the busy hospital. "Please stay and finish your coffee, help yourself to some soda if you'd like."

"Pop," Z corrected again.

"I think we should agree to disagree on that one," Stein said just before he walked out shutting the door behind them. He walked down the hallway a short distance and turned a corner to a less busy section of hospital. He used his ID bag clipped to the front of his white lab coat to open his office door. He walked inside set the file on his desk, and sat behind his computer. He plugged his badge into a slot on his keyboard unlocking his computer and logging him in. He opened a new case file a blank white screen with a black blinking curser. He then picked up what looked like a small phone that was hooked to his computer and held it up his mouth.

"Test one test two period," He said speaking slowly and clearly. The words _Test one test two. _appeared on the screen. Stein nodded satisfied just before he opened his file to consult his notes. "Human subject one, nickname Z period." Stein said the words appearing on the screen. "Subject clams to have no memory of his mating with female xenomorph subject four period. It was difficult to determine if subject one is being honest period. However in my professional opinion: subject didn't break eye contact or perform any nervous habits that would indicate lying period. I am unsure at this time if his amnesia is due to his own subconscious repressing the memories, since he will not let me put him under hypnosis, or if the effects of the bounding with subject four being broken period. I am going to start reflex, strength and endurance test now to see if there are any residual effects of the venom period." Stein set the handset back down and read the screen to make sure there were no mistakes. There was a knocking at his door and Stein sighed heavily as he stood up and opened the door to see a nurse standing at his door.

"Yes?" Stein asked sounding slightly irrigated.

"Sorry to interrupt doctor," The nurse said. "But human subject number two is awake now."

"Excellent," Stein said. "How is he?"

"Groggy and very thirsty," The nurse said.

"Alright wait there I'll be right out," Stein said as he let the door shut again as he walked over to his desk to pick up his file on subject two. He was about to meet the nurse when his phone rang. Swearing he picked it up and held it up to his ear. "Hello?"

"Dr. Stein?" A female voice asked.

"Yes," Stein said.

"This is Doctor Reed down with subjects four and five," Dr. Reed explained. "We need you down here right away there is something you have to see."

"Alright I'll be right down," Dr. Stein said with a sigh. "Bye." With that he hung the phone back up. He rubbed his temples as he walked back to his office door and opened it to speak to the nurse. "Something's come up and I have to go see subject four and five. I want you to make sure subject two is comfortable and able to talk when I get back."

"Of course doctor," The nurse said turning around and walking back towards Nearmyer's room. Dr. Stein started walking the halls again nodding greetings to fellow doctors and nurses. He reached a set of double door that had _hospital employees only _written on it. Stein pushed his way through them and walked down several flights of concrete stairs his dress shoes making a steady clicking. He was dumped into a bare white hallway and turned a corner where there was another set of double door which two men stood guard at.

"Jester, Straight Edge," Stein said greeting the two Green Berets.

"Doctor," Jester said with a nod as he removed a hand from his SCAR to check Stein's ID badge. Stein then swiped his badge through the door's scanner unlocking them so he could walk through them. He walked into a large room where there were banks of computers, monitors and other equipment. Set opposite to them was four holding cells with large glass observation windows. Only two of the cells were occupied by Xena and Zara, both lay on their stomachs with their heads on their front claws tails wrapped around them. Each cell was made out of a metal alloy that wasn't affected by the asdic blood of the xenomorphs.

"Doctor Stein over here," Dr. Reed said waving. Stein walked over to her as she stood in front of the cells.

"What is it Reed?" Stein asked as he looked at the two xenomorphs.

"Subjects four and five are refusing to eat and seem to be in a depressed state," Dr. Reed said.

"I know this already," Dr. Stein said. "That this why we have to sedate them and then force feed them with an IV drip. This better not be why you called me down here."

"It's not," Dr. Reed said. "Xenomorphs subjects four and five are both pregnant."

"What?" Stein asked amazed. "But we haven't brought in human subjects one and two yet."

"I guess they did the deed themselves before we got a hold of them," Dr. Reed said with a shrug of her shoulders.

"Excellent," Dr. Stein said. "This means we can get subjects one and two back to the general so he will get off my back."

"I don't think that is the wise thing to do," Dr. Reed explained. "With subjects four and five not willing to eat we could lose them and their offspring. I think maybe we should reintroduce the subjects to each other, maybe it will lift subjects four and five out of their depression."

"Out of the question," Dr. Stein said with a wave of his hand. "Subject one doesn't remember his bounding and it's reasonable to believe neither will subject two. I do not want to complicate anything by having them remember and risk them opening their mouths. We have a real chance to having xenomorph subjects we can control. Since they are part human they may be able to imprint on a human. All we have to do is make sure to get that patch of their venom over to General Sherman. Keep me updated on their situations doctor."

"Of course doctor," Dr. Reed said moving over to Xena's cell and standing inches from the glass. Xena barely reacted she just raised her head slightly saw it was one of her cruel captors and laid her head back down. Dr. Stein walked back out of the room nodding greeting to the two of the only four Green Berets that had returned at the hospital. After the first day General Sherman realized that keeping a company of infantry soldiers and a squad of special forces was over kill and settled for four commandos(a day shift and a night shift) rotated every week as long as the xenomorphs were at that hospital. Stein walked back to Nearmyer's room and happen to see Z right before he walked into Nearmyer's room before him. Dr. Stein followed Z but stayed in the door way and watched as Z approached Nearmyer. Nearmyer saw Z approach and sat up turning his attention from his tray of food.

"Z," Nearmyer said happily if still a little weakly but he seemed a whole lot better after some water and a meal. "I had the most incredible dream." Here Z's eyes widen and he opened his mouth to say something but Nearmyer beat him to it. "You were there and you were there." Z smiled as he walked over and stole Nearmyer's bread roll.

"How do you feel?" Z asked.

"Like I've been hit by a truck," Nearmyer said drinking more water. "But after this excellent hospital food I feel much better."

"It beats the hell out of army food doesn't it?" Z asked and Nearmyer nodded in agreement. Z felt the presence behind him and lowered his voice. "What do you remember?" Nearmyer glance around Z and caught a quick glance of Doctor Stein.

"I remember being on patrol, falling down a hole and then nothing," Nearmyer said but then the two privates did something that being privates in the army could do: they had an entire conversation with their eyes.

'You remember them?' Z.

'Of course,' Nearmyer. 'What have you told these hacks?'

'What you just told me,' Z.

'Will we ever see them again?' Nearmyer.

'I don't think so buddy,' Z.

"Alright buddy," Z said out loud. "Glad you're feeling better I have to go take some stupid test now."

"You both do," Dr. Stein said as he walked into the room over hearing everything expect the eye conversation.

"Oh hey doc," Z said in convincing mock surprise.

"Can you walk son?" Stein asked Nearmyer.

"I believe so," Nearmyer said swinging his legs over the bed and with Z's help got to his feet.

"Nurse!" Dr. Stein called. A nurse walked into the room at Stein's request. "Help patient Nearmyer walk around the halls please." The nurse nodded and took Z's position and started to walk Nearmyer towards the door. "A little stroll around the halls will help speed up your recovery while I work with your friend here." Dr. Stein placed a hand on Z's shoulder. Z rolled his eyes for he had a bad feeling. He was right as Dr. Stein had him run on a treadmill for 10 minutes, stack 50bls boxes for as long as he could before he couldn't lift them anymore and then Stein threw tennis balls at him to test his reflexes. They were standard enough scores higher than a normal patient but right at the range for a soldier. However they were lower then what Stein was expecting clearly the venom had been completely flushed from his system.

After Nearmyer's walk around the halls he was indeed feeling better and Stein subjected him to the same tests as Z as well as a interview. Nearmyer scored roughly the same as Z and both disappointed Stein horribly but both were fit enough for release. The two soldiers were allowed to shower and shave and then went to the lost and found to receive their uniforms that had been taken from them. They were wrapped in sealed plastic and the two soldiers ducked into a bathroom to change. The two soldiers had pulled it off, they of course remembered everything even murdering the two commandos. However they were willing to chalk everything up to just something horrible they had seen and done in the army and would never be able to speak of again. They also had no plans or intentions to go after they mates for they were sure they were dead. That was until they changed back into their uniforms. They were the same ones that they wore that fateful night and the hospital staff had made a mistake in not washing them and sealing them in air tight plastic. For when they pulled them on their mate's scent that was trapped in the cloth filled their noses.

As it did their eyes dilated and they felt something warm flow through their bodies. They could sense and feel that their mates were in that hospital and they were going to get them come hell or high water as a since of longing filled them. After they finished tying their boots Z stuck his head back into the hallway and sniffed the air.

"This way," Z said as he caught Xena's scent. The two started to walk through the halls as if they owned the place. Back outside the door that lead to where Xena and Zara were held Jester and Straight Edge were board.

"Alright how about this one?" Jester asked playing a game of would you rather. "Would you rather stick your dick in a xenomorph's mouth or a predator's?"

"Are they both female?" Straight Edge asked. Here Jester thought about this for a moment.

"We'll say they are so that factor doesn't come into play," Jester said. "So which is it the second mouth of a slime dripping xenomorph or the rough scaly mandibles of a predator?"

"Yautja," Straight Edge corrected. "The species that is known as predators is called Yautja."

"Whatever," Jester said. "Quit stalling which is it?"

"Will they bite my dick off?" Straight Edge asked.

"That's one of the risks you're going to have to take," Jester explained. "I'm not saying yes but I'm not saying no either."

"Hum," Straight Edge said deep in thought. "I'd go with the Yautja."

"What?" Jester asked.

"The predator," Straight Edge said rolling his eyes.

"Ah you're sick," Jester said. "Feeling all teeth not to mention the teeth at the end of each mandible."

"Well which would you chose?" Straight Edge demanded.

"The obvious answer is," Jester began but was interrupted by voice calling around the corner.

"Any time," The voice said in a creepy low tone.

"Bullseye is that you?!" Jester called down the hallway. "We not doing quotes anymore, its 'would you rather' now!"

"Any time," The voice said in the same manner.

"Goddamn it I told you were not doing lines!" Jester called down again. He started to walk down the hallway SCAR held pointed at the ground. He rounded the corner and left the sight of Straight Edge. "Bullseyes what are you doing down here anyway your shift isn't ti-" Here Jester was cut off and Straight Edge heard a muted thud and the chatter of a weapon falling to the ground.

"Hey Jester you all right man?" Straight Edge asked shouldering his SCAR he then keyed his radio. "This is Straight Edge we might have a problem down near the cells over." He received nothing but static. "Anybody have a copy? Over." Still nothing. Swallowing hard he pressed his SCAR tighter into his shoulder and slowly advanced on the corner his eyes sweeping everywhere as panic was wanting to set in. He didn't allow it however as he tighten his grip on his SCAR and advanced on the corner. "Jester you all right?"

"Come here," The voice demanded in the creepy low tone.

"If you're fucking with me I swear I'll shoot you!" Straight Edge shouted.

"Turn around," The voice demanded in the same creepy way. He whipped around, SCAR up, left eye close but could see nothing. He suddenly felt a sharp burning pain in his gut just below where his armor stopped and he looked down but could see nothing but his only red blood flowing out of him. Most of it was staining his uniform or falling to the floor but some of it was floating in the air.

"What?" He managed to croak as blood dripped from his mouth.

"Any time," The voice said now a lot closer as Straight Edge felt the pain increase as something he couldn't see was pushed deeper into his gut. Back in the halls Z lead Nearmyer to a door marked _hospital employees only _and gently pushed it open and sniffed the air.

"Down here," Z said pointing at the stairs. Nearmyer nodded and followed Z in a slow descent down the stairs. They moved heel to toe their boots making very little noise as they descended the steps. They reached the hallway below and started to walk down it seeing and sensing nothing wrong. They reached the corner and Z peeked his head around.

"There's a door here," He paused and sniffed the air. "They're through there."

"Is it guarded?" Nearmyer asked. Z peeked his head around the corner again.

"No," Z reported. Both thought this was odd but the thought of being reunited with their mates was more pressing. They rounded the corner and slowly advanced on the door both missing the small blood stain on the ground. Both however saw the ID badge that was on the ground right in front of the door. Nearmyer picked it up and looked at it, they didn't know it but it had belong to Straight Edge. The two soldiers eyed the scanner built into the wall next to the door. Nearmyer pressed the badge up to the scanner, there was a beep and then a metallic click as the lock slid back.

"Convenient," Nearmyer remarked. Z nodded in agreement both thought this was odd as well but could only think of their mates at that point. They pushed open the door and walked into a scene of a massacre. The four commandos along with the research staff that had been working in that room, to include Dr. Reed were hanging from the ceiling their skin removed. However what drew their attention was Xena and Zara in their cells their front claws pressed against the glass as their tails moved through the air happily after seeing their mates. They both started to run towards the cells when something shot out of thin air and hit both of them. It was a net and it entangled them both as they struggled to get free. As they did so it only entangled them worse and so they both gave up and lay on the floor both breathing heavily. The sound of footsteps filled the air and they both turned to look but could see nothing and then they heard a strange clicking and what could only be described as purring.

"Oh no," Nearmyer said his eyes growing wide.

"What?" Z demanded not catching on.

"You're not going to fucking believe it but-" Nearmyer started but there was a dull crack and his head jerked sharply downwards as something hit his head and knocked him out.

"Nearmyer!" Z shouted just before he felt something hit his own skull. He saw stars but just before he passed out he saw sparks of electricity and then a armored foot appear before him. They he saw nothing but darkness.


	10. Run through the jungle

Nearmyer awoke with a head ach, stiff back, sore shoulders and when he looked up, raising his neck it protested having been in such a bad position for so long.

"You know this getting knocked out thing is getting pretty old," Nearmyer muttered bringing a hand up to touch his forehead. When he did instead of feeling his skin on his face he fault the rough leather of a glove. Confused he opened his eyes the rest of the way to see why he had his gloves on and when he did he saw that it wasn't his gloves he was issued meant for light duty work. It was a high speed combat glove that was form fitted to his hand to allow him to use his hand as if he wasn't wearing a glove. It was water proof, scratch proof, and had harden plastic over the knuckles. Officially to protect them from bumping or scraping them, unofficially so when the wearer punched someone they wouldn't hurt their hand and would hurt the one they punched a little more. Now only more confused he placed his hands in the small of his back to try and release the knot that had formed there. He wasn't able to really relieve the pain for the body armor that was strapped to him prevented him. Nearmyer looked down and could see that it wasn't his IVA without the plates, but a Dragon skin vest he heard so many rumors about. How it was lighter than his armor without plates, which he could feel, but could stop a whole magazine of AK. On top of it was his FLC the pouches stuffed with loaded M16 magazines, even the frag grenade pouches contained what they were meant to. He had never been issued grenades before and had only used one in basic training. This is what had hurt his back and shoulders having fallen asleep wearing it.

"Oh fuck," Nearmyer said as he brought a hand up to his head to feel his ACH. Again it wasn't his, but one that didn't have a cover and a Rhino Mount for NVGs that were attached. He was actually going on a mission and he had fallen asleep and what a fucking crazy dream he had, had. He looked around the helicopter first for the others that would be going on the mission with him and then his weapon. He didn't find either until his eyes landed on the helicopter's only other passenger: Z. Strangely the first thing he noticed about Z was that on his ACH was a drawing of a screaming skull wearing a jester's cap. He then focused on Z himself as he sat there, also wearing the high speed equipment and full ammo loud. He had a grim expression on his face, his arms were crossed and he was rocking ever so slightly. Nearmyer had seen him like this before and knew he was doing some heavy thinking and was trying his hardest to remain calm. He then noticed that the helicopter was very strange, almost alien. Nearmyers eyes got wide as the self denial he had put himself in passed and he remember everything again.

"Hey Z," Nearmyer said his mouth and throat very dry.

"Yeah," Z said without turning to look at him.

"Were we captured by uhm?" Nearmyer asked.

"Yep," Z said simply.

"We're not on Earth anymore are we?" Was his second as he put the pieces together quickly.

"Nope," Z said simply again.

"Then they're going to hunt us?" Nearmyer said his voice barely above a whisper as his throat dried up even more.

"Yep," Z said finally turning to look at Nearmyer.

"Why," Nearmyer asked. "I mean don't they take the best for that? We're just a couple of pogs."

"Exactly," Z said. "The prefect test subjects. "They saw us kill those commandos with our bear hands, they know why and how as well. They finally found something that can make subpar prey into decent prey. So imagine what they could do with it: turn good prey into the prefect prey to really give them a challenge. That's where we come in: test it on us first see if two that would never give them a challenge before could give them one."

"How do you know all this?" Nearmyer asked stunned.

"They told me," Z said with a shrug something very hard to do in full kit.

"You can speak Yautja?" Nearmyer asked mouth agape.

"The fuck you just call me?" Z demanded.

"Yautja," Nearmyer said again. "You can speak it."

"What the fuck is Yautja?" Z demanded only more confused.

"It what the 'predators' are really called," Nearmyer explained with a sigh. Z just gave him a harsh disbelieving stare.

"Dude I only know enough Spanish to know when I'm being insulted," Z said with a shake of his head. "What makes you think I know how to speak an alien language I didn't know existed, didn't even know their real name, till three seconds ago?"

"I don't know," Nearmyer said scratching the back of his neck. "Why, and who's high speed gear do we have on?"

"As for why I think it's to give us every advantage possible," Z said a little unsure. "For who's I don't know." They fell in to silence again each unsure of what to say expect for Z who knew exactly what to say but didn't know if he should. "Hey Nearmyer."

"Yes," Nearmyer said looking back at Z.

"I've got a bad feeling about this drop," Z said with just the hint of a smile on his face. Nearmyer just stared at Z unbelieving he was still playing the game and that now it was his turn again.

"Should we switch to something that is more applicable?" Nearmyer asked.

"Fine," Z agreed. "But if you say get to the chopper I'll kill you myself."

"Fair enough," Nearmyer agreed as he tried to think of the song they had listen to in the helicopter.

"Long Tall Sally," Z said suddenly.

"What?" Nearmyer asked confused.

"The name of the song they listened to in the helicopter is Long Tall Sally," Z explained.

"How did you know what I was thinking?" Nearmyer asked with a smile.

"I just know you," Z said simply.

"On your feet," A disembodied voice demanded. The two soldiers hesitated for just a second and they felt something they couldn't see grab them each by their body armor and hauled them roughly to their feet. They were then forcefully shoved closer to a hatch still by unseen culprits. When they got closer it opened and showed them a jungle that was a few feet below them. They were forced closer to the hatch as they tried to push themselves away but with no luck. Suddenly each felt something rough wrap around their necks and prevent them from moving as they grabbed at it feeling something but not being able to see it. Then one of them revealed itself to them and was holding a vial of a yellow liquid in each of its hands(or claws). Both Z and Nearmyer knew what it was even before the ones that held them from behind grabbed their chins and pulled their mouths open. They each exchanged worried glances before the one they could see dumped a vial each of their mate's venom into their mouths and down their throats. Once the vials were empty the one holding them moved and Nearmyer and Z were forced right up to the edge of the hatch both coughing. A second later they were shoved out, fell the short distance and landed hard on the ground. Both got to their knees and started to cough as they felt the heat wash over them again.

As they coughed one of the Yautja threw their weapons out of the ship. They landed on the ground making a chattering near the two soldiers but neither of them made to grab them as they fought with the venom in their veins. The rifles where the same ones they had lost back in the Biotech complex Z's still had the M203 attached to it. The hatch resealed and the craft flew away leaving the two pog soldiers stranded. They still didn't notice as they struggled to regain control of their bodies as the large amount of venom pumped through them. This was the largest amount they had both received by far and it should have killed them, would have killed them if they already hadn't built up a tolerance. Z recovered first since his tolerance was higher because of the larger doses he was given. He got to his feet with one final cough and wiped the spit from his mouth just before he spat on the dirt his spit having a yellow tinge to it. He walked over and knelt beside Nearmyer and patted him on the back, a useless gesture due to the body armor.

"Just take it easy," Z comforted. With a few more coughs Nearmyer got to his feet and once he was steady Z walked over and picked up their rifles and handed Nearmyer his. They stood there clutching their rifles, hearts pounding in their chest, senses heighten so they could hear their own blood moving through their veins. The primary effect of the venom didn't take effect since their mates were nowhere near them.

"What do we do?" Nearmyer asked.

"I don't know," Z said.

"How are we going to get home?" Nearmyer asked.

"I don't know," Z said again.

"Won't someone be looking for us?" Nearmyer said panic starting to creep into his voice.

"I don't know!" Z said a little more forcefully.

"The Army shouldn't they be looking for us?" Nearmyer asked not catching on.

"I don't know!" Z said just a little bit louder.

"Our families what about our families?" Nearmyer asked.

"LOOK I DON'T FUCKING KNOW!" Z shouted as he unstrapped his(well Jester's) ACH and threw it at a tree making a_ thunk_. "I just don't know." Z then reached down into his right ACU trouser cargo pocket and pulled out his worn and weathered patrol cap and placed it on his head in lue of his helmet.

"You should put your helmet back on," Nearmyer said weakly and unsure.

"Why?" Z asked dryly. "To protect my head? I don't think the Army combat helmet is rated to stop blue energy blobs."

"Plasma," Nearmyer corrected. This prompted another harsh look from Z who sighed and started to roll up his sleeves of his uniform jacket to just above the elbows. "You're not authorized to do that anymore."

"I don't think we have to worry about Army regs out here," Z said as he finished with his left and started with his right. "When I die I want to die comfortable."

"What are you talking about?" Nearmyer demanded.

"Look forget it," Z said finishing with his sleeves.

"No what the fuck do you mean?" Nearmyer demanded forcefully.

"I think is fucking obvious," Z said with a sigh. "We here to do one thing die a 'honorable' and horrible death. Even if we don't get killed by the predators-"

"Yautja," Nearmyer corrected calmly.

"What the fuck ever," Z said sighing heavily. "If we don't get killed by the Yautja there is no way we're getting home and I didn't get survival training did you? I don't know what plants to eat. We either die by them or we starve to death either way w-" Here Z stopped and sniffed at the air. "You smell that?" Nearmyer sniffed the air and he smelt it as well.

"Yeah," Nearmyer said having smelt the sweet smell of his mate. It was faint and far away but it was there none the less.

"There here somewhere," Z said. "Forget about what I said earlier. If we're going to die it's going to be getting to them." Z sniffed the air once again. "This way." He said starting off into the jungle. They walked for a few moments in silence and Z felt bad for being so short with Nearmyer. "So you know a lot about these yay-yays."

"Yautja," Nearmyer said slowly. "And yes I know some stuff. I was really into them when I was younger and spent hours on the internet looking stuff up."

"So is this their home planet or what?" Z asked as he ducked a branch.

"No," Nearmyer said. "This is game planet used for hunting game like us. Wait you should know this. This is basically what happened in the last one."

"I remember them in LA and drug lords being killed in the last one," Z said pushing another branch out of his way.

"What? You haven't seen the third one?" Nearmyer asked.

"There's a third one?" Z asked.

"Yeah," Nearmyer said. "Anyway this planet is like a game preserve."

"Ok I got ya," Z said as he watched some sort of flying insect take off from a large leaf. It seemed to move too slow, slower than it should have. He blinked and shook his head and it started flying at regular speed. "So can they naturally turn invisible or do they use some kind of tech?"

"Some kind of tech," Nearmyer said. "Same with their vision. Well they naturally see in heat but their masks refine it."

"How'd you know I was going to ask that next?" Z asked as they moved through the jungle.

"I just know you," Nearmyer said simply.

"Alright here's a tricky one for you," Z said with a chuckle. "What's the deal with the mesh shirts? I mean are they going clubbing later?"

"Actually," Nearmyer started knowing full well Z was asking a question that he didn't think he would be able to answer. "There is a general consensus that their home planet is very cold. Those 'mesh shirts' are heated to keep them warm but then they don't have heavy layers to take off when they go to warmer planets they just turn the heating off."

"Really?" Z asked. "How do you know all this again?"

"Like I said," Nearmyer explained. "I was really into them."

"Ok just one more-" Z started then sniffed the air again. He smelt something new, it wasn't exactly unpleasant but it was different and he knew it was one of them. Z lowered his voice. "You smell it?"

"Yeah," Nearmyer said not believing he could actually smell it.

"7 o'clock high," Z said voice barely above a whisper but kept walking. "In the trees I bet it's going to strike soon, thinking it can finish us off quickly."

"What do we do?" Nearmyer asked tightening his grip on his rifle.

"Relax," Z ordered. "If it thinks we're on to it, it's not going to strike or just shoot us with plasma. It's going to want to get close, use blades right?"

"Yeah," Nearmyer agreed. "More honor in killing prey in close combat epically if they're armed."

"Ok we're going to draw it in and take it out," Z said simply.

"How?" Nearmyer asked his eyes wide.

"Just follow my lead," Z said as he keep walking having not even turned to speak with Nearmyer. "One day you'll be alone! All alone in a combat zone!" Nearmyer quickly caught on and started singing joining Z in the cadence.

"Bullets flying all around!" They both sang loudly. "Better keep your head to the ground!" The hunter that stalked them from above had found them easily enough and couldn't believe they were just walking not even looking for their death and where it would come from. Then when they started to sing the hunter knew it had them, they were completely unaware of its presence. It was a little disappointed that they had brought them all this way to be killed so quickly. It did matter as long as it killed them before the other hunter got them, their singing was sure to attract it.

"Don't you worry about being alone!" They both continued to sing. "C&E's gona bring you home!"

"Nearmyer's gona bring you home!" Nearmyer belted out solo.

"Za-" Z started but the hunter choose that moment to leap from the tree. It was meaning to land on Z to take him out first since he seemed to be the leader. Z however had heard it leap, could somehow feel it move through the air towards him and he whipped around. He could then see it as it moved through the air as the shimmer came at him, but it was moving much slower than it should have been. Z side stepped and swung his rifle's butt towards the top part of the shimmer, there was a crack as his butt stock connected with its face. It gave a cry of surprise as it was knocked to the ground, still seeming to fall too slow. It landed on its back in a shallow puddle and water splashed up when it fell. Z didn't give it a chance to get back up and stomped on the center of the shimmer where its chest should be. He kept his boot there as Nearmyer placed his own boot on its chest, both shouldered their rifles aiming point blank. Their fingers tighten on their triggers and they were about to fire when the water short circuited its camouflage generator. There were blue sparks and then the hunter was revealed to them and they eased off their triggers but kept their fingers on them. The reason they did this was because this Yautja was female.

Her arms were above her head palms open from landing hard on her back the wind knocked out of her. The two soldiers exchanged glances unsure of what to do and confused why they were showing compassion at all. She was starting to react when Z made the decision, he shifted his aim and fired a single three round burst into her plasma caster attached to her shoulder, sparks and smoke shot up from the broken weapon. Z then raised his rifle high, flipped it around and brought the butt stock down as hard as he could on the front of her helmet. His venom enhanced strength allowed him to dent the metal but more importantly she was knocked unconscious. The total time from when she had jumped to be rendered unconscious: four seconds. Nearmyer raised his rifle aiming for her head when Z smacked his rifle back down.

"What are you doing?" Nearmyer demanded.

"We leave it alive," Z said. "I don't know much about these...Yautja. However is it safe to assume that they are proud creatures? Has lots of honor and all that?"

"Yeah," Nearmyer said after some thought.

"Then when it wakes up its going to be pissed," Z explained finally removing his foot from her chest. "But it will go after us alone too much pride to get help taking down a couple of pog humans. I just took out its plasma launcher thing."

"Plasma caster," Nearmyer corrected as he removed his own foot from her chest.

"Whatever you say," Z said. "So we have the advantage of range. If we kill it they'll just send more after us. I don't know how long whatever they gave us will last and we will be barely able to handle one let alone three or more without it. So we let it sleep and get a head start."

"I'm following you know," Nearmyer said as he knelt down and started patting her down. Z snapped his rifle up aiming at her head to cover Nearmyer in case she woke up.

"What the fuck are you doing?" Z demanded.

"Disarming her," Nearmyer explained.

"Her?" Z asked raising and eyebrow and loosening and retightening his grip on his rifle.

"Yeah it's obviously a female," Nearmyer said as he removed her harness that had several bladed weapons on it. "It's why you hesitated to begin with."

"Yeah," Z admitted. "It just doesn't feel right to waste a woman even if it is a alien that's trying to kill me." Nearmyer then removed the disk that could seek a target out over incredible distances. "Hey I remember that thing cut through like four dead cows and Agent Peter Keyes. Could I have that?"

"You want a highly advanced, deadly weapon you know nothing about?" Nearmyer asked just to be sure he understood.

"Yep," Z said and with a sigh Nearmyer tossed it to him. "Sweet." Z tucked it between his stomach and body armor. Nearmyer pulled a collapsible spear from a sling on her back and looked at it.

"I get this then," Nearmyer said as he placed it across his own back using the sling.

"Fair enough," Z said as he tossed the harness with the other weapons on it randomly into the jungle. He then looked her over and focused on her chest watching it raise and fall ensuring she was still alive and unconscious. Satisfied they started walking again following their mates sweet scent. They walked for what felt like a few hours the sun sinking lower but still bright, keeping eyes, ears and noises open for any sign of their hunter. They came across a small, shallow, pound that several fish swam around aimlessly in.

"Prefect," Nearmyer annoyed happily. He stopped and picked up a larger fallen branch. He then pulled out a combat knife that was attached to his thigh(they really wanted to make sure they had everything). He started to use the knife to shape an end of the stick to a point.

"What are you doing?" Z asked making it clear he didn't want to stop.

"Well we got to eat," Nearmyer explained. "So I'm making a spear to fish with."

"Why when you got that really high speed one from that one we knocked out?" Nearmyer asked.

"Right," Nearmyer said pulling it from his back and pressed a button and the spear sprung out. "Alright here." He toss the spear he had made from the branch to Z who made no attempt to catch it. "Let's see who can catch the most fish."

"Can I go first?" Z asked with a wryly grin.

"Uhm, sure," Nearmyer said stepping back from the pound a little unsure with Z. Z still smiling walked up to the edge of the pound, opened one of his grenade pouches, pulled one out, pulled the pin, and tossed it underhanded into the middle of the pound. Four seconds later it went off causing a column of water to explode up. When it settled back down every one of the fish was floating near the surface dead. Z turned and walked back towards Nearmyer.

"I win," Z said evenly. "Loser go gets 'em." Sighing heavily Nearmyer retracted the spear and placed it back on his back surprising Z that he knew how to do that. Nearmyer wadded into the ankle deep water and started to collect all the fish holding them by their tails. Z tossed him his empty canteen as well. "Fill it if you'd be so kind." Nearmyer opened the canteen and held it under the water bubbles come out of it. Once the bubbles stopped he took it out of the water, recapped it and tossed it back to Z. Who took a small tap from his canteen pouch and placed inside, it fizzed in the water. It was a chlorine tap that purified the water making it safe to, the Yautja had thought of everything. Nearmyer walked out of the water carrying a dozen fish by their tails. When he step out of the water he looked down as his soaked pants and that's when he saw the mud on his boots. A smile a mile wide slowly spread it across his face as an idea struck him.

"Hey Z," Nearmyer called out.

"What?" Z asked turning around. Nearmyer raised one of his mud covered boots so Z could get a better look. "No." Z said simply and harshly.

"But come on it worked for him," Nearmyer countered as he removed his rifle's sling to tie the fish together.

"It only works when its wet," Z explained as he started to walk through the jungle again. "Your body heat will dry it out quickly. So if you start at your legs the mud there will be dry and not doing anything by the time you get to your head."

"Piss in my cheerios," Nearmyer muttered starting after him rifle in his hands, fish over his shoulder.

"You know what song keeps going through my head?" Z asked as they walked.

"Long Tall Sally?" Nearmyer asked the smell of fish overpowering him.

"No, Run Through The Jungle," Z said as they walked. Nearmyer had to admit it was a very fitting song and before he knew it, it was stuck in his head as well. "Whoa, thought it was a nightmare." Nearmyer started to sing Z joining in right away.

"It's all so true," They both sang. "They told me don't go walkin' slow, the devil's on the loose. Better run through the jungle. Better run through the jungle. Better run through the jungle. Don't go lookin' back." Before they could sing the second verse Z stopped walking, stopping them in a clearing. He looked up at the sky and the darkening light. "I say we stop and make camp for the night . What do you think?"

"Camp sounds good," Nearmyer said setting the fish down. "And food."

"You start cleaning the fish I get a fire going," Z said as he started to pick up sticks and branches in the immediate are not wanting to venture out by himself. Neamyer found a large flatish rock and placed a fish on it as he pulled out his knife. He started to gut and clean the fish like he had seen but never had actually done. He butchered the first two, barely getting any meat and was about to attempt a third when Z walked over. "How's it going?"

"Pretty good," Nearmyer said raising a hand that was stained with blood and scales. Z looked at Nearmyer and just shook his head.

"I'll clean the fish you go work on the fire," Z said pulling his knife from his own thigh. Nearmyer shrugged and walked over to the small rock encircled pit where Z had stacked smaller sticks and dry leaves as kindling and larger branches nearby. Z meanwhile started to clean the fish with the skill and efficiency of having done it many times before. He soon finished cleaning the rest of the fish leaving the skin on one side of the flay to make it easier to cook. With that task complete he looked over to see how Nearmyer was making out and his jaw drooped. He was setting there literally rubbing two sticks together trying to start a fire. Sighing Z stood up and walked over snatching up his rifle.

"Hey don't look at me like that," Nearmyer said. "You try to start a fire without matches." Rolling his eyes Z pulled the magazine out of his rifle and pulled back the charging handle ejecting the chambered round. He reached out and caught it with one hand something he wouldn't have not been able to do if it wasn't for the venom. Letting the rifle hang by its sling he pulled out his multi-tool and changed it into pliers. He then used them to pull out the bullet and dump about half the powder out of the shell and onto the kindling. That complete the crimped the top of the shell to keep anymore powder from spilling out. Z locked the bolt back on his rifle and slipped the blank round he had just created directly into the chamber. Nearmyer took a step back as Z lowered the rifle so the barrel was touching where the powder was on the kindling. He fired the sound seemed to echo forever but once the burning powder left the barrel and started the powder that was on the dry leaves and that started the leaves burning. It started with a small flame that quickly grew as the rest of the sticks caught. Z added a few larger branches to help the flames glow, just before he walked away a smug smile on his face.

"You red neck son of a bitch," Nearmyer said as he warmed his damp feet by the fire.

"Hey," Z said as he manually cycled the bolt to eject the spent round since there was no projectile to automatically cycle the bolt. "My drill sergeant told me how to do that. Also for the record I grew up in a city." Z brought over the fish flays over to the fire and started to cook them holding the half that still had the skin on it over the fire. Once he had cooked all the fish the two soldiers sat on a log eating as they watched the fire crackle as the last of the sun light started to disappear.

"Join the Army they said," Nearmyer said suddenly. "See the world they said. I didn't think they had this in mind."

"I don't think so either," Z agreed eating more fish. "If we ever make it back remind me to bring this up with my recruiter."

"No problem," Nearmyer said chuckling. "I got a few words to say myself." They ate the rest of their fill in silence as neither wanted to discuss what was really on their minds: their mates. After they finished eating Z wrapped the remaining uneaten fish in cloth and stuffed them into his left cargo pocket.

"Alright I'll take first watch," Z said standing up and checking his rifle.

"One on, one off?" Nearmyer asked as he started to clear a spot on the ground near the fire.

"No," Z said. "You know as well as I do you're still tried as shit after that. Half on half off. I'll take the first five hours. If it's not light by 10 hours then we'll do one on, one off."

"Sounds good," Nearmyer said as he laid on his back looking at the now dark sky. He pulled his rifle so it was on his chest at port arms. "Kind of pretty." He remarked as he looked at the bright and numerous stars. Z just nodded as he sat back down on the log and peered into the dark jungle the only light was the flickering fire. Nearmyer had fallen asleep quickly like he always did, Z always wondered how he did it. Z also knew that he would stay asleep for nothing less than a gunshot or explosion or if something touched him. He would awake instantly if so much as fly would land on his boot. He himself was the opposite and would wake at the slightest and smallest sound of any kind if he didn't recognize it. Then with the venom flowing through him he could hear everything from the crocking of, what he guessed were, frogs to the buzzing of insects. He was starting to get the hang of focusing his hearing however and that's how he heard the heartbeat that was somewhere behind and above him. He could smell her as well once the smell of fish had finally left his noise. He had picked up on her a while back but didn't say anything as to not let on that he knew she was there.

"Whoa, thought it was a nightmare," Z sang softly as he set his rifle down by his side hoping to draw her in again. ""It's all so true. "They told me don't go walkin' slow, the devil's on the loose. Better run through the jungle. Better run through the jungle. Don't go lookin' back."

She watched them with carefully but especially him. The one that had hit her first and had knocked her out. When she awoke she was first surprised that she was even alive then she was angry first with herself. She had made many mistakes one was underestimated her prey. Then she went after them in a straight line relying solely on her camouflage a young blood mistake. Then when she had found most of her weapons were missing she was really angry, she was furious at them, at him. Every hunter can make mistakes but there was no greater dishonor then losing their weapons. She had picked up there trail again easily enough but this time kept her distance moving around them as not to keep to a straight path this time. One had gone to sleep while the other, the one she wanted to skin first, was still awake. He had placed his weapon on the ground next to him and started to sing as he relaxed. She was weary of his actions because of last time though. So she watched him for a bit longer as he then removed the ammunition from his weapon and took it apart for cleaning. She had him now as she dropped from the tree branch and landed without making a sound. She started towards him slowly making sure to place every foot down with precision. Once she had closed half the distance and he still had his back to her his weapon in pieces she broke into an all out sprint, a blade spring forth from her right gauntlet.

Once she hadn't moved in on him with his rifle next to him, he to decided to take a risk and take it one step further. He started to field strip it and acted as if to clean it. Despite her best efforts he still heard her land the venom had made sure of that. He heard every step she made and the when he heard her break out into a sprint he closed his eyes and waited for death. Instead he felt her presence behind him and then felt something sharp, that he couldn't see, press against his throat. He sat there waiting for her to drag it across cutting his throat and spilling his blood but she didn't and wondered why. One was out of surprise that the human hadn't flinch or was begging for his life. That was one of the things she lived for was the pleading her prey did just before she ended them. So she decided to it a step further as well be revealing herself so he could see the jagged blade that was pressed to his throat. The human then did something she didn't expect, he sighed in annoyance.

"I heard you coming from a mile away," Z said as he tensioned his body. Although he didn't get survival training he had been forced to take combatives level 2 and 3 when the classes needed more 'volunteers'. The first thing he did was lean back getting distance between his throat and the blade grabbing her arm at the same time. As he leaned back he pulled on her arm pulling her forward as her body weight shifted. As she fell forward he tucked his legs up to his chest and once her chest was above his he kicked his legs back out planting both in her stomach. Then using his legs and his arms he rolled her onto her back falling with her landing on top. He landed sitting on her chest his knees pining her arms above her head his right hand drawing his knife and held it to the side of her neck. He glanced quickly over at Nearmyer to ensure he was still sleeping and then leaned in closer so he could whisper.

"Look I know I'm dead already," Z said whispering harshly. "I know it's only a matter of time and I have accepted that fact. But do not fucking toy with me, the only reason I don't kill you is because I don't need any more of your kind pissed off at me." With that he stood up getting off of her and re-sheathed his knife. He walked over and sat back on the log and started to put his rifle back together. She got to her feet unsure of what to do. Twice he had fooled her, twice he had bested her and twice he had let her live, perhaps she had misjudged him. She removed her helmet the hissing the tubes make when she removed them caused him to look back up. In the flickering light for the fire he was able to see her clearly. She was about a head taller than he was, had full breasts covered in a thin looking garment and wonderful curves. Once she had removed her helmet he could see her face and her smooth looking skin and mandibles. He turned his attention back to his rifle as he slipped the bolt back into the upper receiver. She walked over to him, how dare he ignore her. She grabbed him under his chin and pulled him to his feet and turned his face to the side. Z rolled his eyes as she turned his face to the other side still not struggling. She couldn't believe he still wasn't afraid of her.

"Kill me already," Z said with annoyance. She tighten her grip on his face and considered doing just that. Instead she still held his face for reasons she didn't know herself she kept him alive. She then leaned in closer and Z heard her growl or purr he didn't know which was which. He then watched as she leaned in even closer and opened her mouth. The next thing he knew she was running her tongue along the side of his face. It was warm and wet and when it reached his ear in worked its way inside. Then before he could react to that she had pressed her mouth over his and that same tongue he had felt on his face he felt in his mouth. He pushed her off of him then, shoving her hard causing her to stumble back. Before she could do anything he had pulled his knife from his thigh again.

"No," Z said forcefully holding his knife in front of him. "I'm already taken. You can kill me but I won't do that." She pulled her helmet back on and re-cloaked herself just before she ran back into the jungle. How dare he reject me she thought as she ran, one way or another she would have him.

The other hunter had watched all this unfold and then her rival flee. She had tracked the two humans as well but at a much greater distance as not to reveal herself to her prey or the other hunter. She was puzzled as to why her rival did what she did with the one called Z. She could see why she became attracted to him since he seemed to be the alpha of the two and knowledgeable enough to survive. However the other was knowledgeable in his own way knowing more than any human should about her people. She thought about killing them both when the one known as Z looked right at her despite her camouflage and distance.

"I know you're there as well," Z said looking at the branch that to most would be just a branch. Z watched as the other one sunk back further into the jungle as well. He then finished putting his rifle back together. He watched the jungle again his head swimming.


	11. Subject three

Dr. Stein looked around the research lab and the mess the Yautja had left behind. He wasn't alone as several Biotech security guards were milling around the room as well. They clutched their weapons, civilian AR15s and shotguns, with death grips their eyes darting around nervously. Stein didn't put too much trust in their abilities since they were the ones that lost the first facility to the xenomorphs to begin with. If they couldn't handle them he doubted they could handle a highly advanced alien race that wiped out a squad of commandos without alerting anyone.

"How much damage was done?" Stein asked the guard captain.

"All eight members of the second shift research team are dead," The captain explained. "This includes head researcher Dr. Reed, the four Army guys are dead as well."

"Subjects one and two are missing," A researcher said walking up to Stein holding a clipboard. "Also subjects four and five are gone."

"Taken by them?" Stein asked calmly.

"I think it would be safe to assume so," The researcher said.

"They take anything else?" Stein asked.

"They took all the sample of the venom," The researcher explained. "Including the refined samples." Stein sighed heavily at the news of the lost of the refined samples. The first thing they focused their research on after they had gotten some of subjects four and fives' venom was to remove certain effects while increasing the others. They finally had what they thought was a successful batch and were about to start human trials then this happened.

"Do we have enough data to synthesize more?" Stein asked rubbing his forehead.

"We should," The researcher said carefully. "But what would have taken months may very well take us years."

"Goddamn it!" Stein shouted as he threw a beaker across the room it smashed against a wall. When it did the security guards whipped around to face it weapons pointed. "Ah what the fuck could you piss ants do anyway!? They already got what they wanted and left!"

"Are you all right sir?" The guard captain asked regretting it almost as soon as the words left his mouth.

"No I'm fucking not!" Stein shouted. "Because I now have to explain to a general that four of his soldiers are dead and two are missing. Then the only reason he let us keep subjects four and five was so he could get his fucking super soldiers and now it will be years before we have anything workable. We are fucked, truly fucked!"

"What about subject three?" The researcher asked.

"What about it?" Stein demanded stepping closer to the researcher.

"We've combed the complex thoroughly," The researcher explained. "After the Army turned that place inside out and couldn't find it. I've heard through a reliable source that there was a breach and several subjects got out. However the Army thought they got them all and even searched the grounds and couldn't find anything."

"What's your point?" Stein asked raising an eyebrow.

"Sir it stands within reason that subject three managed to escape," The researcher explained. "Maybe if we were to capture it."

"What good could that do us?" Stein demanded. "Subject three was male."

"Yes it was sir," The researcher agreed. "But it was born of one of the newest females. It should have some characteristics of its mother. I'm not saying capturing it will make up for what we've lost today but it couldn't hurt and should at least give us a starting point." Stein paused as he thought about it.

"Not to mention that there is a xenomorph running around unchecked out there," The captain said.

"Alright," Dr. Stein said. "But I don't even know where to begin to look for it."

"Leave that to me sir," The researcher said.

"Fine," Stein said rubbing his temples. "I have to go call a fucking general."

The military base the commandos had deployed from was starting to shut down for the night. The day guards were relieved once the night watch showed up and started to patrol. Soldiers were cleaning up their work areas, and walking back to their barracks or off post housing for the night. All expect the two 94Ps Private North and Corporal Hall who were toiling away trying to change out a damaged hydraulic line on a MLRS. More correctly Private North was toiling away, working under the MLRS, sweat soaking his uniform all the way through while Hall stood and supervised. They were the only two left in the hanger like workshop. Hall whipped the light sweat that had formed on her forehead from standing in the un air conditioned shop. If she was sweating from just standing there she couldn't imagine how North was fairing.

"Let's go private," Hall said sounding irritated. "In case you haven't noticed everyone else has left and I would to as well."

"Going as fast as I can corporal," North called out from under the heavy vehicle. "Just about got it though."

"Good because I need to take a shower," Hall said wiping more sweat from her forehead. "And since I can smell you from here, you differently need to take one as well."

"Maybe we can take one together," North suggested still under the MLRS. "You know saving time, water and all that. Combat shower and what not."

"Maybe you should think before opening your mouth and speaking to your superior in such a manner," Hall said crossing her arms. "Because I was going to have you re-grease the treads _tomorrow_ but now maybe you should do them tonight."

"Roger that corporal," North said as he crawled out from under the vehicle dripping with sweat.

"You know what," Hall said with crossed arms and evil smile. "_Maybe _you should run a complete level three PMCS on this MLRS and if anything, anything at all is off you are to fix it tonight. Make sure to keep a full report in the field maintenance log. I want this vehicle fully mission capable by 0700 tomorrow is that clear?"

"Yes corporal!" North shouted snapping to attention and saluting. "So is that a no on that shower then?" Hall just sighed heavily and turned her back to him.

"Dumbass," She said as she walked out of the bay. He watched her go thinking she had never said no and that caused him to smile as he used a rag to remove the sweat from his face. He went back under the MLRS now completely alone, or so he thought for he didn't see the thing that crept high above him moving along the ceiling's steel beams. North started to whistle to himself thinking he must be the only motherfucker working this late. He was wrong however as Lieutenant Cross was still up and knew he was going to be working late into the night even before the coffee cup flew at his head. Still standing at parade rest he moved his head to the left slightly the cup missing by inches and smashed against the far wall of General Sherman's office.

"WHAT!?" Sherman screamed into his phone's receiver. There was a long pause as the voice on the other line spook. Sherman was standing behind his desk having gotten up to throw his cup across the room after receiving the news. Sherman just stood there listening his face red his eyes darting around angrily. After a long moment he was able to speak again. "Hold on a second doctor." Sherman said holding up a hand as if Dr. Stein could actually see it. "Let me see if I'm following you doctor. There has been another breach, this time at your hospital. The two x-rays, that I wanted under guard here but you insisted would be safer at your fucking hospital, broke out and killed Foxtrot team. Not only that but they killed my other two soldiers that I was kind enough to let you have to run your test on you were so adamant on running. Even though you told me they had no memory of the x-rays and would have no reason to be where the x-rays were being kept. I only bring this up because you said no civilians were hurt so I must assume they were near the x-rays. Then you're telling me these two x-rays that had already killed four commandos, two pogs and your entire research team are put down by your piss ant security guards? The same bastards that lost the first compound in the first place? Does that sound about right doctor?" Here there was another pause as Stein spoke trying to explain himself.

"No doctor!" Sherman shouted into the phone again. "I AM calling you a liar and an idiot if you thought I was going to believe that bullshit story you just told me! No you are going to tell me what really fucking happened or so help me I'll get every swinging dick under my command, march down there and arrest you for crimes against humanity!" A pause that was cut short by Sherman. "VENOM BE DAMNED I DON'T FUCKING CARE IF THIS IS THE PRICE I HAVE TO PAY! YOU EITHER TELL ME OR SO HEL-" Sherman was cut off as Stein cut in. "What?" Sherman sounding more confused them angry. "Yes I've seen it but what does that have to do with-" Here Sherman was cut off again by Stein as his eyes darted around as if he was looking for something but couldn't see it. "What are you saying doctor?" Sherman demanded. Then after pausing to let Stein speak. "Doctor are you saying they exist as well?" A short pause. "Did you make them in your lab as well?...You didn't? You sure?...So now you're telling me that these fuckers broke into your research lab, killed my commandos, your staff but kidnapped the x-rays? What about the pogs?...You have reason to believe they took them as well? Why the fuck would they do that?"

Sherman sat back down into his desk's chair, closed his eyes and started to rub them with his thumb and pointer finger of his free hand. "Doctor if anyone else had told me what you just told me a week ago I would have laughed in their face and called them a fucking liar. Is there anything else you would like to tell me, anything at all?...Nothing else to inform me about?...You sure? Well keep me updated doctor. What?...I will take care of explaining their deaths remember what I said about special forces?...Good. Good night doctor." Sherman hung up the phone sighing heavily still rubbing his eyes. He then looked up at Cross who had been standing there the whole time. "We have a long night ahead of us lieutenant." Sherman said eyeing the clock on the wall.

"I'll go make some coffee for you sir," Cross said starting towards the door.

"Please do," Sherman said leaning back in his seat. "While you're out please get the personal files for Privates Nearmyer and...and.. ah what was his name again lieutenant?" Cross's eyes widen as he couldn't remember himself but then he remembered his nickname.

"Z sir," Cross said calmly. "They called him Z."

"Right," Sherman said snapping his fingers in realization. "Get their files and all the paper work to list them as AWOL. After three days we'll inform their next of kin and ask if they have made contact with them, the whole nine yards."

"Won't it be hard to explain to their families enough already sir?" Cross asked. "There were injured badly enough on a 'training exercise' to by hospitalized for three days. Then after they make a seemingly full recovery they decide to go AWOL?"

"What are you getting at lieutenant?" Sherman demanded raising an eyebrow.

"Sir maybe we shouldn't inform them of their time in the hospital," Cross suggested. "Maybe we should say they were on watch one night and didn't show up for morning formation. Maybe we could even get a few soldiers that are on extra duty for screwing up to write up sworn statements, stating how they noticed the two privates seemed depressed and secluded as of late before they went AWOL. If they do they'll get taken off of extra duty."

"I think that is excellent thinking lieutenant," Sherman said truly impressed. "I also think you're about due for a promotion. Make it happen lieutenant."

"Yes sir," Cross said walking out of the office. As Lieutenant Cross left Sherman's office Corporal Hall walked into her barracks room. It was a single room on the fourth floor complete with bed, desk, walk locker, TV, and bathroom with a shower. As the door closed behind her, locking automatically she removed her uniform jacket and threw it onto the bed. She then sat on the bed herself and started to untie her boots, thinking maybe she had been too hard on North. Well she couldn't go back on what she said now as she took her boots off and threw them under the bed. She walked over to the wall locker, opened it and pull out a gray PT shirt and a pair of black PT trunks. She then pulled off her still damp t-shirt and pulled her pants off and threw them on the bed as well. Now wearing only her undergarments and carrying the PTs she walked into the bathroom and shut the door behind her. However it didn't shut all the way and was left slightly ajar but she didn't bother since the door to her room was locked. Placing the PTs on the counter by the sink she turned on the shower and stepped under the warm water after removing her undergarments.

As she washed herself the only surviving xenomorph of the original Biotech complex climbed the side of the barracks. He made his way up the cinder block wall careful to remain in shadow and keep himself hidden. Once he reached the windows of the fourth floor he moved along them looking for the one he wanted, forced to move in to the light. He soon found the one he wanted and used the tip of his tail to lift it open. He cut the screen with his tail as well just before he jumped into Corporal Hall's room landing gracefully and silently. He heard the water running and her humming softly and moved silently on all fours to the bathroom door. He slowly eased it open grateful that it was well oiled and opened quietly. The shower was to his left and she had her back to him and the curtain drawn. He pulled back his lips into a sneer just before he dashed inside the shower and wrapped his arms around her. She opened her mouth to scream but he clamped a claw over it muffing the noise. He then moved in closer and rested his head on her shoulder and he purred softly. She relaxed once she realized who it was and he removed the claw from her mouth.

"Don't scare me like that," She said grabbing one of her hands that was around her waist. The xenomorph had many names: to Biotech he was known as test subject three, to certain members of the Army he was known as an x-ray, but to her he was simply James. "What are you doing here? You shouldn't be here?"

'Shouldn't I?' He cooed, she heard him as a voice inside her head.

"No you shouldn't," She said feeling something stiff poking her from behind.

'Do you wish me to leave then?' He starting to move back from her.

"Since you're here," She said softly pulling him closer to her. He leaned in and gently bit her shoulder as he wrapped his arms around her more tightly. She took a step forward moving out of the water as he moved with her stepping under the water. The warm water felt pleasant on his skin as his erection grew pressing into her back. After feeling it she leaned forward placing her hands on the tiled wall of the shower preparing herself. He wasted no time sliding into her slowly savoring every second, feeling her warm moist slit envelop his member, as she moaned in response. He placed a claw on each of her hips and started to thrust slowly and gently as the water still flowed off his shoulders. She started to moan louder as he increased his speed. She used her arms to push off the wall to push back into him as he pushed forward. His hands slowly moved up her smooth and wet stomach till they each cupped a breast. He started to message them gently as he leaned in and rested his head on her shoulder again. As he increased his speed again he moved his tail up, around and worked it in between them. He then gently touched her anus with the pointed tip of his tail.

"What?" She managed to breath in between moans. She was confused because she felt him still inside of her and his hands were firmly holding her breasts so what? She never got to finish that thought as he eased the tip of his tail into her anus. She grunted as she felt a little pain and even a little bit of blood flowed out to be washed away by the running water. He pulled his tail back a little but left the tip inside. He slid it back in even more gently since he could tell he had caused her pain something he would never dream of doing. This time she didn't grunt but sighed deeply as she loosened and started to feel pleasure. While he still thrusted he started to move his tail in and almost out of her and back in. As she got used to the new feeling of pleasure she started to moan louder still. This caused him to increase his speed of thrust and his tail as he started to hiss softly. As she neared her climax her vaginal muscles pulsated and pulled at his member as he pushed it as deep as he could inside of her. She threw her head back and cried out as the most powerful orgasm she ever had rocked through her body. He was right behind her as he hissed loudly as he finished himself thrusting fully into her and pushing his tail in as far as he dared. The excess seaman dripped out of her and down her legs where it was washed away by the water.

She straighten back up and he immediately wrapped his arms around her and embraced her. He remained inside of her but gently eased his tail out of her and used that to tie them together in their embrace. They stayed like that for a long while the water flowing over them both, washing away the sweat that had formed on their bodies. After he had finally soften he withdrew himself slowly and she was sad that he did so but then he muzzled the side of her face. She brought a hand up and placed it on the side of his face and inhaled deeply breathing in his wonderful scent.

"I love you," She said as she pulled away from him slightly and turned around to face him.

'As I do you,' He said as he muzzled the front of her face gently. 'I must depart now before I am discovered.' With that he let go of her and got out of the shower. She turned off the water and watched him go feeling a little sadness but knew he would be back when he could. He had gotten down on all fours again and scurried through the window and down the barracks wall. He ducked into a drainage pipe as he heard footsteps and looked out to see what it was. It was another human but he knew this one. He was a human warrior and worked with his mate frequently. This made him dislike him right away but after seeing that he just worked with his mate he had grown to like him a little. So he let him pass without killing him even as the side of him that spoke for his mother said that would only alert the other humans to his presence. Once he was pass he left his hiding spot and stalked off into the night.

Private North whistled softly to himself as he walked unaware of his brush with death. He was covered in drying sweat and grease. It had taken him a long time but he had finally finished the PMCS on the MLRS and re-greasing the treads. In his right hand he held a torque wrench that had reached its due date for recalibration, and need to be given to C&E platoon to be calibrated. As he thought about calibration his mind flashed to Z since he was the one that would more than likely be doing the calibration. As he thought about Z he realized he hadn't seen him in at least a few days. He also then thought that he hadn't seen Nearmyer as well it was weird because those two were always together. With a shrug he thought he would just have to give it to the section leader instead. But he couldn't help but wonder where they were.


	12. Fantasies and deals

Nearmyer threw a branch onto the fire as the flames started to die. At first they ignored it but soon they had engulfed the dry wood and were high again and throwing off pleasant heat. He couldn't help but think they were only drawing the Yautja in with the fire but there only seemed to by one after them and they could take her. Nearmyer lowered the NVGs that were attached to his helmet and flipped them on the jungle becoming an eerie green. The light from the fire was magnified by the device and seemed to light the entire jungle. However they didn't sense heat and he was relying more on his hearing and sense of smell more than his eyesight. Nearmyer flipped the goggles back up and wondered why Z had gotten rid of his helmet, Z was probably right in the fact that it couldn't stop plasma but he had gotten rid of the NVGs as well. Nearmyer looked over at Z as he slept and shook his head a single time. Z was sitting against a tree facing the opposite direction of Nearmyer as he sat on the log. He was sleeping in full battle rattle and Nearmyer knew he was going to awaken with a stiff back. His rifle was right next to him the sling wrapped a single time around his leg so if anyone tried to take it while he slept they would wake him. Z's arms were crossed across his chest, his head was tucked into his chest as well and his patrol cap was pulled down over his eyes.

Nearmyer didn't know how he could sleep like that, where he himself had laid on the ground and removed his heavy body armor. He then thought that maybe Z had the right idea since if anything did happen he was already ready to go. Nearmyer then thought maybe he had been a little too comfortable when he removed his armor and fell asleep so soundly. Nearmyer stood up slightly, wiggled his hips, and sat back down in a more comfortable spot. He was about to settle in for the long haul when a sound reached his heighten ears. It was the sound of creaking wood and guessed it was a heavy weight landing on a tree branch. A moment later he smelt a familiar but a little off smell and knew she was close. Neamyer got to his feet and picked up his rifle turning to look for the source of the smell/sound. He barely managed to make out a shimmer on a tree branch just outside the ring of fire light. His raised his rifle and then shimmer jumped, he almost lost it but soon found it as it traveled through the air seeming to move slower than it should have to Nearmyer. He aimed at its new location and the shimmer jumped again to a different branch and Nearmyer almost lost it again. It jumped around a few more times Nearmyer just able to keep up following it with his rifle but not firing. It then jumped from a branch and landed on the ground inside of the camp, close to and facing Nearmyer. Nearmyer aimed his rifle squarely at the shimmers center forcing his hands to be steady. He thought about calling out to Z but was sure he could handle it.

Then the shimmer was no longer a shimmer as the Yautja revealed itself to him. It was another female but it wasn't the one from earlier. One it didn't smell quite the same and two it didn't have a large dent in the front of her helmet where Z had butt stocked the other one. Nearmyer held his ground aiming his rifle square at her chest not really sure what to do, when a red light started to glow from the side of her helmet. He glanced down and saw the three dots of their aiming laser on his chest and knew for sure it was a different one for she still had her plasma caster. Nearmyer tighten his grip on his rifle and the laser moved up to his face and finally came to rest on his forehead where it sat. Suddenly the laser snapped off and he expected her to produce some kind of bladed weapon but she stood there hands to her side. Then Nearmyer understood she was basic saying: I've could have killed you long ago but didn't. He still aimed his rifle at her but picked his head up so he wasn't looking at her through the sights.

She reached up and removed her helmet slowly and carefully bending down and placing it on the ground. What is she doing Nearmyer wondered, is it a kind of peace gesture and was he supposed to remove his helmet as well? His helmet wasn't giving him that much of an advantage anyway. So he reached up with his left hand his right still gripping the pistol grip of his rifle, unclipped his chin strap, pulled his helmet off and dropped it to the ground. He lowered his rifle slightly but still keep it pointed at her. After seeing him remove his helmet she seemed to purr and her mandibles twitched slightly as she tilted her head to the side. She then reached up and unclipped her weapon harness and laid it on the ground behind her. She then took the plasma caster off her shoulder and laid next to her other weapons. Now Nearmyer understood she wanted to fight hand to hand. Every instinct in his head was screaming at him to just shoot her and be done with it.

Instead he found himself lowering his rifle and placing it gently on the ground. Next he removed his body armor and FLC tossing them on the ground. The last thing he did was take out his knife and flung it at the ground burying half the blade into the dirt. He moved his right leg behind him getting into a classic fighting stance but keeping his hands at his side as not to broadcast his intent. After he had done that she purred again just before she removed her mesh shirt Z had made fun of earlier, she still had her thin garment coving her breasts though. Again Nearmyer was unsure of what to, did he remove his own shirt and what was the point? Still his ACU jacket wasn't granting him a major advantage either so he unzipped it and toss it to the side to reveal his tan t-shirt tucked into his ACU trousers. He then raised his fists up and started to lightly bounce on his knees to prepare for her attack.

Instead she purred softy as she reached up and removed the garment that covered her breasts showing him her large, round, smooth mounds. If Nearmyer was confused before he was at a loss now as he stopped bouncing and dropped his hands to his side. She then used a single finger to beckon him over to her. He hesitated and looked around her over to Z to find him still sleeping which was perfect. When Nearmyer had told Z he had really been into the Yautja it was a half truth he was actually in love with them. To the point that he might have lost some genetic material to some pictures on the internet of what he was witnessing first hand. Also he would never admit it to anyone, not even Z, but what he was sure was about to unfold was a fantasy of his for a long time even before he had enlisted in the Army. That was why he momentarily forgot about Zara as he slowly walked over to her. He stopped just in front of her, hands at his side unsure of what to do as he looked up at her.

She reached down and placed a hand on the side of his face and gently pulled him closer as she bent down. Next thing he knew she had her mouth pressed over his and he felt her tongue probing the inside of his mouth. He stood there for half a second before he relented and pressed his own tongue into her mouth as he wrapped his arms around her. He slowly ran his hands up her back feeling her smooth warm skin as he pulled her even closer. She slowly lead them over to the log he had been seating on where she broke their embrace. She gently pushed him down so he was seating on the log as she slowly got onto her knees. Her hands went to his belt and loosen it before she gently slid his pants down. One of her hands went to gently knead the bulge in his underwear this causing him to sigh in pleasure. She leaned in and kissed him again as she pulled his underwear down letting his massive erection spring fourth and exposing his ass to the rough wood of the log. Her right hand encircled his member and started to slowly move along its length as his own hands reached up and grabbed a breast each. He started to rub them slowly using his thumbs to trace small circles around her hard nipples.

She was the one that broke the embrace again as her hand started to increase speed. She leaned back just before she bent forward bring her face closer to his erection. Nearmyer leaned his head back and sighed in pleasure again as he felt a pleasant warm breeze on the sensitive organ. He suddenly felt the breeze get much hotter and then a moister on his stiff member. He then felt a gently tugging as the moister increased as well. He looked down and saw her head bobbing up and Nearmyer couldn't help but think that if she missed or he moved at all he could really get hurt. He placed a hand on the back of her head feeling her strange dreadlocks and smooth skin. Nearmyer snapped out of the trance she had put him in and remembered Z and quickly looked around her at Z. Nearmyer watched him for several seconds and the slow and steady rise and fall of his cheat. Nearmyer returned his attention to her once he was sure Z was still asleep. He closed his eyes and leaned his head back as he let himself fall back into the trance.

Above them perched on a tree branch watching with jealous eyes and rage filled chest was the other huntress. She was angry, no she was furious for she had been rejected. Then her rival had seduced the other one with such ease. What really pissed her off was that she knew her rival only did it to show her that she could succeed where she had failed. It was a good thing her rival had chosen the one known as Nearmyer, for if she had gone after Z and succeeded she would have killed them both. She turned her attention to Z as he slept and her angry cooled a little inside of her. He had said he was taken and it was easy to deduce that the other species of prey that had been taken from the facility that the two humans were capture from was his mate. Two of the second species had been captured and it was within reason that one of them was the ones Nearmyer's mate. It seemed Z had some honor where his partner did not betraying his mate and leaving his friend unprotected as he slept. She mauled that word around in her head as she stared at Z harder: _unprotected. _One of her hands reached up and touched the dent that he had caused as she formed a new thought. She could take him away from the others since they were both distracted and force him to give her what she wanted.

She dropped to the ground gracefully and silently but still stopped and watched Z weary of his heighten senses. She then checked on her rival and other human, there were still occupied by their mating and hadn't notice her. She advanced slowly circling around the camp giving the two a wide breath as she closed in on Z. She started to form a plan since she didn't have much in the way of equipment after the two had gotten rid of it for her. She was going to have to ensure he remained unconscious but should also gag him so he couldn't raise the alarm. Of course she would bind his hands and feet then she could carry him off into the darken jungle. She reached the edge of the camp as nothing more than a shimmer. She moved slowly on Z as he sat sleeping against the tree as she pulled a thin but strong piece of rope from her belt. They may have stripped her of her obvious weapons but she still had a few tricks up her sleeves. She had almost reached Z when she stopped to look at her rival and other human. Her rival had her back to both Z and her and the human was glazing up at the sky.

Satisfied she moved closer to Z and stopped just in front of him. She watched him sleep taking in the senses of power she now had over him. She slowly bent down and was about to grab his arms to tie them when she felt something poke her in her stomach. She looked down and saw it was the barrel of his weapon. He held it in his left hand finger on the trigger and with his right pointer finger he eased the bill of his cap up so she could see his wide open eyes. Z had never really entered sleep just drifted in and out of different states of awareness. Then when he had heard the other huntress land in the camp he was ready to spring up but then he heard her remove her helmet. He had watched them both disrobe thinking, like Nearmyer, she wanted to fight hand to hand. When she was distracted he was going to shoot her in the back honor be damned when she disrobed even further. He then decided it was best to let them have it out and try to sleep when he had heard her approach. Not as soon as she had landed, like before, but only when she got much closer this making him think that the venom was starting to wear off.

"Good evening," Z whispered as not to alert Nearmyer or the other huntress. Neither of them did anything for several seconds. He still held the barrel of his rifle in her stomach as her arms were still halfway stretched out ready to grab him. She slowly lowered her arms to her side and deactivated her cloak but remained hunched over. "What do you want?" Z asked in a whisper. She turned her head to look at Nearmyer as he mated with her rival Z following her head with his own but keeping the rifle pressed against her stomach. "I already told you I'm taken and I'm not going to do that." Z whispered harshly as he stared into her helmet visor. She looked back over at the two and pointed at Nearmyer. "I don't carry what he chooses," Z explained. "He may have to reap what he has sown but I'm not going to stop him. That is between him and her."

It frustrated her to no end that she was this close yet so far, he had bested her yet again. She looked closer at his weapon and thought that maybe she could knock it away before he fired. She then thought better of it as she realized he had is finger tight around the trigger and if she moved in any kind of hostile way he would fire. This infuriated her yet aroused her slightly that he was a worthy opponent. She straighten back up then and backed away slightly as he still aimed his weapon at her with only one hand. She thought that maybe she could lash out with a kick and knock his weapon away before she pounced on him. She quickly squashed that idea as well, this was the kind of thinking that got her in trouble with him the first time. So she backed away even further and re-cloaked herself just before she rushed off back into the jungle. Z watched her go and when he could no longer track her with his heightened sight he placed his rifle back on safe. He then placed it at his side again and pulled his cap down over his eyes again. He closed them in what he knew was a futile attempt to sleep as he crossed his arms again. I hope she's worth it Nearmyer old buddy, Z thought as he couldn't help but listen to them, because I think your lady is going to be pissed when she finds out.

Nearmyer, who was unaware of Z's brief exchange with the other huntress, gently pushed her head up and off of his now slick and throbbing member. She looked up at him confused when he gently pushed her onto her back on the leaf covered ground. Nearmyer followed with her dropping to his knees his hands gently grabbing her hips. He then gently and slowly removed her loincloth like garment that was around her waist as she purred softly. Nearmyer got a good look at her moist and perfect looking slit. He wasted no time pressing his tongue in and out of her, causing her to purr loudly and buck her hips closer to his mouth. He slipped two fingers into her fold as his left hand reached up and cupped one of her breasts. Her purring got louder as her hands balled into fists grabbing onto fallen leaves. Her toes curled as she came hot juices following out of her and onto Nearmyer's face who licked the rest up.

After he had finished Nearmyer got to one knee and position his member so the tip was gently pressing against her slit. He glanced back over at Z to ensure he was still sleeping, when he thought he was he was about to enter her. However he was taking too long so she wrapped her legs around his waist and pulled him into her purring loudly. He sighed in pleasure as her soft warm folds evolve his member. He started to thrust burring his dick up to the hilt as her legs wrapped tighter around his waist. Nearmyer increased his speed as he reached up and placed his hands under her just above her firm ass. She reached up wrapping her arms around him and pulled him closer as his thrusting reached a fevered pace. He moved his hands to message her breasts as he kissed her neck sweetly. She meanwhile ran her tongue on the side of his neck as she bucked her hips up in time with him.

She was close to finishing and by his breathing she could tell he was as well. She uncrossed her legs and placed them flat on the ground and used them as leverage to push herself up and him over. Nearmyer landed on his back still inside of her as she landed on top of him. She started to bounce up and down his throbbing member. He reached up to grab her hips as he started to thrust upwards as she went down. She bent forward pressing her breasts against his chest as she still moved her hips up and down. She pressed her mouth over his invading his mouth with her tongue again as she moved her hips in small circles. Her arms snaked under his back and grabbed onto his shoulders. She pulled her mouth from his and placed her head on his shoulder roaring softly as he climaxed. Her vaginal muscles gripped and pulled at his penis as he thrusted one last time grunting as he came warm seamen shooting out of his tip. It leaked out of her mixed with her fluids and ran down his inner thighs.

She lifted her hips up his softening member finally pulled out of her. Nearmyer reached down and pulled his underwear and ACU trousers up to shield his ass from the cold ground. He was about to get up, when she laid on top of him still naked placing her head on his shoulder again. She had a warmth and pleasant weight to her and Nearmyer soon found himself succumbing to sleep forgetting all about Z and that fact he was on guard duty. He placed an arm around her as she fell asleep purring softly in his ear. He closed his eyes and soon fell asleep as Z got to his feet. Z had heard everything and looked over just in time to see Nearmyer drift off to sleep. He picked up his rifle and walked over to a stump and sat down heavily upon it.

"Nearmyer man you're really screwing me over here," Z muttered to himself with a single shake of his head. He now had to pull a second guard shift without any sleep as Nearmyer snored softly snuggling up to his mistress. He would have woken Nearmyer up but he didn't want to wake his mistress and suffer her wrath. Z sat on the stump rifle held between his legs barrel pointed at the sky for a long while. His eyes lids felt heavy and they closed completely for half a second before he snapped them back open. He got to his feet and started to walk in a small circle to wake himself up. His feet carried him to the spot where the huntress had placed her plasma caster and he stopped. Z picked it up finding it to be lighter then he would have thought. He looked back over to her sleeping form before he tossed it into the fire. It didn't explode like he feared but sat in the flames turning black and then there was a soft pop and cloud of sparks. The flames turned blue as the highly deadly weapon burned and melted. He then picked up her weapon harness and tossed it into the jungle at random. Now that she had been disarmed like her rival Z walked back over and sat down heavily onto the stump.

Z sat for a long two hours fighting back sleep as he felt nothing but exhaustion. He was so out of it he almost missed her waking up. She had woken up and gently removed Nearmyer's arm from her as she stood up. She checked to unsure her mate was still sleeping, when she saw that he was she started to get dressed. Z would have never known she had woken up if it was for the slowly diminishing venom. Z got to his feet and aimed his rifle square at her back as she was still bent over looking on the ground for something, her weapons Z guessed. He whistle softly to grab her attention, she whipped around using an arm to cover her still exposed breasts.

"Evening," Z whispered looking down his sights. "You'll find that your weapons are gone and you should leave now." She just stared at this human not believing that he was ordering her around and had gotten rid of her weapons. She took a step towards Z a low growl escaping her throat. "None of that sweet heart." Z said tightening his finger on his rifle's trigger as he pulled it tighter into his shoulder. She stopped and dropped her arm so he had a perfect view of her breasts as she placed and hand on her hip leaning heavily to one side. She then used a single finger to beckon Z over to her like she had done to Nearmyer. "No dice." Z said flipping the safety off his under barrel M203, for which he actually had an explosive round loaded this time. With a short low roar that sounded like a grunt of disgust to him she finished getting dressed, cloaked and ran off into the jungle. Z lowered his rifle and sat back down on the stump placing the rifle across his lap.

After a long hour in a half light finally started to break and Z got to his feet. He stretched his sore and stiff muscles as he rubbed his tired eyes. He walked over to where they had stored the remaining fish and ate a quick and cold breakfast of fish as the sun rose higher into the sky. After Z had finished eating he walked over to Nearmyer and kicked his legs. Nearmyer sat bolt upright waking with a snort. He looked up at Z and then to the brightening sky and his eyes got wide.

"Z man," Nearmyer started. "I didn't mean to fall asleep. I just...I...well I."

"Save it," Z said as he kicked dirt onto the now smoldering fire to put it out completely. "Your love life is yours and yours alone." Nearmyer flushed when he realized that Z knew and then felt shame wash over him as he also realized that Z had been up all night forced to take both shifts.

"Z man if you want to take an hour nap before we step off that's cool," Nearmyer said getting dressed.

"No time," Z explained as he waited for Nearmyer to don his body armor and FLC. "Xena's scent isn't as strong. That stuff they gave us is wearing off we have to find them before it does or we're killed by the Yautja." With that Z started off into the jungle following Xena's weakening scent. Nearmyer followed right behind him feeling shame and like a jackass as he was fully awake and well rested. Where Z marched at a slowly pace, shoulders slumped and head looking at the ground.

"Hey Z I've been thinking," Nearmyer said as they walked.

"That could be dangerous," Z joked his voice filled with fatigue.

"What if the Yautja take what ever they gave us themselves?" Nearmyer asked. "What if they use it to become better hunters instead of just making better pray?"

"Then we are truly fucked," Z said simply and somberly as the two fell quiet. They walked for an hour without incident but Nearmyer was lost in thought about the previous night's events and Z was walking solely on autopilot. That was why neither of them senesced the danger until it was too late. Even then Nearmyer never saw it coming, it was Z who senesced and started to react. He whipped around, his reaction slower than before, but it was too late the huntress had already landed behind Nearmyer. It was the one with the dented helmet and she had and arm wrapped around Nearmyer placing him between her and Z as she pressed a blade, that had sprung forth from her gauntlet, to Nearmyer's throat.

Z aimed his rifle at her as Nearmyer's eyes bulged from his head his rifle at his feet. Z and the huntress had a stare down when she pressed the blade tighter to Nearmyer's neck a thin trickle of blood moving down his neck. That clever bitch, Z thought, she knew I'm willing to die so she holds Nearmyer hostage. Z was willing to die but he wasn't willing to condemn Nearmyer either. Having no choice Z lowered his rifle and gently placed it on the ground. She used a hand and waved him back, he complied and backed away from his rifle. She then grabbed the front of Nearmyer's FLC and shook it. Z understood again and removed his own FLC tossing it next to his rifle. He then removed his knife and threw it towards her the blade burying itself into the ground just inches from her left foot. She stared at Z stunned for half a second as he smirked smugly. She then grabbed Nearmyer tighter and pressed the blade even harder causing him to gasp in pain. Z backed away a few more paces and raised his hands into the air defeated.

She pushed Nearmyer away from her slightly and struck him in the back of the head with expert skill both lightening quick and hard. Nearmyer fell forward unconscious as she dashed forward grabbing Z by his neck. Z reacted quicker than normal but still slower than he had before, grabbing her wrist and elbow twisting her arm removing it from his throat. She reacted quicker striking him in the gut causing him to double over despite his highspeed body armor. She then flipped him onto his back and placed a foot on his chest pinning him to the ground taking a cretin satisfaction finally having him where she wanted him. This all had happen in a matter of seconds and it left Z winded and staring up at her.

"Well what the fuck do you want?" Z demaned. She bent down folding in her leg so instead of her foot that pinned him it was her knee and shin. She removed her helmet and set it next to his head before she grabbed his chin and pressed her mouth over his. Once again he felt her tongue inside of his mouth but this time there was little he could do to stop her. She raised back up purring softly as Z sucked in a quick breath of air. She was about to lean in to do it again when Z placed a hand on her chest and instead of pushing her away he started to gently massage one of her breasts through the garment. She purred in pleasure and joy thinking he was giving in but Z had another idea. "I'll make you a deal." Z said softly as his other hand ran up the back of her leg stopping to grab her ass. "You know where they are don't you? My mate?" He said stopping his massage to point at the alien mark on his forehead. His other hand went to rub the area just above her womanhood but stopped refusing to go any further down. She purred in pleasure and tried to push his hand down but he didn't let her. "Well don't you?" Z asked his voice as smooth as silk. She nodded her head that she did and Z lowered his hand rubbing her slit through her loincloth already feeling moister. "I will only do this for you if you take us to them afterwards. Do we have a deal?" She quickly shook her head yes again as soon as the words had left his mouth. "Good." Z said.

Z reached up grabbed her behind the neck and pulled her down this time pressing his mouth over his and invading her mouth with his tongue. She felt a wave of joy wash over her for he was willing, but it was quickly followed by a dull anger. She was the one that had bested him this time and he was taking charge, she couldn't have that. She pulled herself away from him removing her leg from his chest. She reached down and grabbed him under the back, picked him up and slammed his back against a tree rather hard. She ripped his ACU jacket open and off of him just before she pressed her mouth over his again. Z who wasn't about to be undone hooked his right leg behind her left and pushed off the tree. They both fell to the ground this time she was on her back and Z was on top and wasted no time ripping off her mesh shirt and top garment. He cupped a breast in each hand as his moved his tongue in small circles around her left nipple. She purred softly in pleasure as he started to lightly suck on her breast when she realized he was in control again.

She reached up and wrapped her arms around him as she hooked a leg through his just before she rolled them both over so she was on top again. She grabbed the bottom of his tan shirt and pulled it mostly up his arms twisted above his head as the fabric covered his face. She then held it there getting his arms pinned and not allowing him to see. She started at his chest and ran her tongue down his smooth stomach stopping just about his belt line. Z struggled against his own shirt as she loosened his belt and pulled his pants and underwear off. She was glad to see that despite what he had boasted about being taken earlier he had a large erection. She took him into her mouth running her tongue over the tip and along its length. Her free hand went to cup and knead his balls as her other keep his shirt over his face. Z finally wiggled his shirt completely off and watched her head go up and down for several seconds.

When her head moved back up and stayed there, her tongue making small circles around the head of his penis, Z pushed her head completely off. Before she could react he wrapped his legs around her and pulled her to the ground at his left side. Z scrambled on top of her and positioned himself so the tip of his member was pressing against her slit through her loincloth. He gently started to poke it with just the tip of his penis as she purred loudly rolling her head along the ground. Z ripped her loincloth off but would still just press the tip in-between her fold teasing her.

"Is this what you want?" Z asked devilishly in a soft voice. She reached up grabbing the dog tags that hung around his neck and pulled him closer his ear inches from her mouth.

"Yeeeesssss," She hissed in a lustful tone. Z was taken back a little after she spoke but slammed his hips forward entering her fully and forcefully. He pulled them back and slammed them forward again.

"Then take it," Z grunted as he slammed his hips forward a third time the skin on skin contact making a wet smack. He then started to thrust as fast and hard as he could letting all the angry and frustration he felt for being in the current situation enter the action. She purred loudly as she grabbed his back her nails digging lightly into his skin. He reached down to grab her hips as he slammed his own hips forward even faster. Her hips start to buck in time with his as he bent down and sucked on her breasts again. She suddenly threw her head back and roared loudly, the sound echoing through the trees, as she climaxed. As the orgasm shook through her body Z slammed his hips forward extra hard a few more times before he finished himself. With a shout and grunt of frustration he buried himself up to the hilt inside of her as thick seamen shot into her. Z did not stay there to enjoy the sensations but pulled out a thin trail of seaman and her fluids lead from her slit to the head of his member. He got to his feet and pulled his pants up. She stared up at him a little taken back he had pulled out so quickly.

"We had a deal," Z said simply tightening his belt. She stared up at a little hurt but stood and got dressed herself. They had finished at roughly the same time and as he picked up his weapon she went over to where Nearmyer still lay unconscious, picked him up and threw him over her shoulder. She then started walking through the jungle to fulfill her part of the deal Z following right behind her.


	13. Negotiations

The adrenaline from his earlier act was wearing off quickly leaving Z to trudge along behind the huntress that still carried Nearmyer. While she was able to carry Nearmyer with ease even though he was in full battle rattle, Z was starting to fall behind as he stared at the ground. The huntress looked over her shoulder and saw that Z was starting to fall behind as he trudged along looking mostly at the ground. She looked forward again and saw a small patch of clear dry dirt and stopped gently placing Nearmyer on his back in it. She then stood up Z bumping right into her back since he didn't realized she had stopped. Once he bumped into her he snapped his head up in alarm.

"What?" Z said quickly looking around. "What is it?" She turned around to face him having to look down to do so and flexed her arms while she rolled her shoulders. She then pointed at Nearmyer's still unconscious form laying in the dirt and rolled her shoulders again. Z nodded in understanding she was saying that she was tired from carrying Nearmyer and needed a break. Z very much doubted it since she didn't seem winded or tired at all he was guessing it was a delay tactic. "Fine I'll carry him." Z said as he moved up to Nearmyer slinging his rifle. With a grunt he pulled Nearmyer awkwardly to his feet and moved him so that most of his weight was on Z's back. Z then placed Nearmyer's arm over his shoulder and leaned forward so Nearmyer wouldn't slip down his back as he started to walk forward. She had just stood there and watched him her head slightly cocked in amusement. "Well lets go." Z said starting to leave the huntress behind but he didn't make it five more steps before the exhaustion made him drop Nearmyer as he fell to his knees.

Z stayed on his knees looking at the ground thinking that maybe he should just stay there and go to sleep. That's when he realized that the break hadn't been for her but for him and she was just trying to pass if off as if she was tired. Well fuck her Z thought he didn't need her sympathy Z tired to get to his feet and fell flat on his face. Well maybe I could use a break Z thought just as a hand grabbed the back collar of his body armor and pull him gently to his feet. She then lead him over to a stump and sat him down on it and he was so tired he just let her do it. She then sat on a rock across from him and started to stare at him. Z meanwhile had his rifle on his lap and his head pointed at the ground as he fought with his eye lids trying to get them open. Being largely unsuccessful he reached under his body armor and into the pocket that was over his heart. He pulled out a tiny bottle of tabasco sauce he had gotten from an MRE. He kept it for the very reason he was about to use it for.

Z opened the small bottle breaking the plastic seal before he pulled the glove off his right hand. He tapped a good sized puddle onto the webbing in-between his thumb and pointer finger. Z sighed heavily for he knew what he was about to do was going to hurt for he did once before in basic training. Z brought the puddle of tabasco sauce to his right nostril and used his free hand to plug his left. He then inhaled sharply through his right nostril snorting the tabasco sauce up his nose. Z's eyes grew wide and immediately started to water as he jerked his head back up. His nose was burning and as he started to cough. The back of his throat started to burn as well as the tabasco dripped down it. A tiny bit of blood mixed with tabasco dripped out of Z's nose and onto the ground as he finally stopped coughing. When he did he looked up and saw the huntress staring at him head still slightly cocked which Z could only guess was a puzzled looked for she still wore her helmet.

"Damn it that hurts," Z remarked as he wiped his nose as a little more blood dripped from it. "But I'm awake now." Z said as he re-pocketed the bottle of tabasco. "So whenever you're 'ready' we can start moving again." She turned to first look at Nearmyer who still was knocked out and then back to Z. She knew Z was still fatigued and had only used pain to force his mind back into an alerted state. Also his heighten state seemed to be deteriorating meaning his advantages he had were going to deteriorate as well. He really would become easy prey then, easy to kill even without her weapons. Or perhaps it would be easier to 'convince' him to do something else instead in exchange for his life. Or maybe she would just skin the bastard and use his hide as a new weapon harness to replace the one he had taken. Either way she wanted to know something before she made her decision.

"Why do you hate me?" She asked her voice sounding a bit robotic as her helmet translated for her but was still feminine. Z looked at her surprised that she had spoken again.

"Besides the fact that you were or are still trying to kill me," Z said he voice taking on a smartass tone. She let out a low growl and Z quickly held up his hands. "Alright take it easy, it is true you have to admit." She let out another low growl but then nodded in agreement. "I don't agree with that but I respect it. Anyway I don't hate _you _I hate what your kind did. My life wasn't the best, sure I had a very stable career due to the Army but I had to put up with a lot of bullshit. I'm the only private in the calibration section I don't do all the work but I did do the majority. Then if anybody has to stay late I was the one that always got to stay behind. Then whenever there was a detail or ceremony I was the one that got 'voluntold' to go."

"That was how I ended up at that compound for the 'training exercise'", Z explained trying to gage her emotion by staring into her dented helmet. "Just another private pulled away in the middle of the night to do an officer's bidding but at least I was paired with my buddy Nearmyer. Then I meet her." Z said his eyes glazing over a bit as he thought of Xena. "Then for once I was truly happy. Then the Army ripped that away from me as well. I had accepted the fact that I would never see her again but then I _did_ have a chance to see her again. We both did." Z nodded towards Nearmyer. "Then your kind took her away and took me and Nearmyer away. Took us millions of miles away from our homes just to kill us. I was just about ready to shoot myself to end it before it really started then I found out that she was here. So I decided to see her one last time before you or the other huntress gutted me." Z looked up at the sky the sunlight that was shining through the leaves of the jungle canopy and sighed heavily. "You know it really is a lovely place to die."

The huntress got to her feet after Z had finished his explanation thinking he acted harshly but fairly at least. She walked over to Nearmyer and threw him back over her shoulder and started to walk again. Z got to his feet and followed behind her his nose still burning and he knew it would still burn for a few hours at least a few days at worst. Once she knew he was behind her and had his head up this time she couldn't help but sway her hips just a little more as she walked. Z didn't really notice as he started to scan the jungle as his sense of smell wasn't what it had been but still better then it would have been normally. Even though he was scanning as he drill sergeants had taught him he still didn't see the threat that lurked above him. The huntress caring Nearmyer did but thought it best not to intervene unless necessary.

The other huntress the one that Nearmyer had a romp with and the one that Z held at gunpoint leap from her perch. She had been aiming to land on Z's back and hopefully crush the bastard's spin. Instead Z felt her as she flew through the air and dove to the side her boots crushing the spot on the ground where he just was. Z landed hard on his stomach and quickly rolled over onto his back shouldering his rifle aiming at the shimmer that stood before him. Before he could pull the trigger she lashed out and kicked it from his hands and reached down picking him up by his body armor. She brought him so they were eye level and revealed herself to him the front of her helmet inches from his face. A blade sprung from her right gauntlet and she held it to the side of his throat. Z meanwhile had managed to bring up his right hand between them so she could see what he was holding. It was a grenade with the pin pulled but Z had the spoon held down so as long as he kept holding it, it wouldn't explode.

"You know what this is?" Z croaked as the blade was pressed tighter to his neck. "You kill me I drop this then you die."

"I would have three seconds to make it out of the 25 meter blast radius," She explained in the slightly robotic but still feminine voice. "More than enough time for me to escape."

"Oh," Z said with a smile. "Then you'd ruin your new pelt."

"I would not use your hide to wipe my feet on," She said with a low growl.

"Good," Z said still smiling. "I wouldn't use my hide for that either. Also my bones are pretty weak so not much good for making tools or anything like that."

"Then what is stopping me from ending you now?" She demanded.

"I don't know," Z admitted. "My charming personality?" She pressed the blade even tighter drawing a thin line of blood.

"Enough," The other huntress said Nearmyer still over his shoulder.

"This does not concern you," Her rival said turning to face her but kept her blade pressed to Z's throat.

"It just might," The huntress with the dented helmet said. She then moved Nearmyer's unconscious body so it was in front of her and wrapped an arm around his throat. She then pressed her own blade to Nearmyer's throat getting a growl from her rival. She then turned to face her and moved Z so she was holding him like the other huntress was holding Nearmyer. "This will be simple," The one holding Nearmyer said. "You give me mine I give you yours."

"Agreed," Her rival said. "However I want him awake."

"I do not know how to awaken him without causing him a great deal of pain," The one with the dented helmet admitted.

"Then we do not have a deal," The rival said removing Z's cap and light scratching his head.

"I can wak-" Z started but the huntress squeezed his throat and cut him off.

"In fact," She said as she started to rub Z's head. "Maybe I like this one and you can keep mine. He said it himself his hide and bones are no use to me and he wouldn't make a good trophy. So maybe I could find another use for him. Can you think of another use for him."

"Still holding a grenade," Z managed bringing his hand up so the one that held him hostage could see it. The hand that had been pressing the blade to his throat reach out and ripped the grenade from his hand and threw it into the jungle much farther than he could have. It went off with a loud whump blowing dirt and leaves into the air. "Well fuck me." Z cursed rather loudly.

"Ah that is it," The huntress said bringing the blade back to Z's throat. "The other thing you could be good for." She started to gently rub the top of Z's head again. "Is he a good mate?" She asked the one with the dented helmet.

"What else do you require to make this deal?" The huntress holding Nearmyer demanded.

"Do I get a say?" Z asked.

"You do not," She said squeezing his throat tightly again.

"What do you require?" The other huntress demanded again.

"Let me mate with him then you can have him back," She said still rubbing Z's head.

"No," The dented helmet huntress immediately said wishing she had dealt with the other huntress before she had grabbed Z now. "If you do not release him I will end this one." She pressed her blade tighter against Nearmyer's throat. He was still unconscious and this caused his head to fall down his chin now pressed to his chest. The other huntress let out a low growl that only Z could hear.

"It matters not for I still have this one," She said as she ran a finger along his jaw line. "He seems to be the alpha of the two anyway." Everyone fell quiet then for no one knew what to say at that point. Z tilted his head back so he could look at the huntress that had an arm around his throat and a blade pressed to his neck.

"It's clear to me that you actually want Nearmyer," Z whispered. She tilted her head down so she could whisper as well.

"I want both of you," She said maniacally.

"Look can we make some kind of deal?" Z asked still whispering.

"What could you offer me?" She asked.

"Well I was really thinking along the lines that you get Nearmyer back," Z explained. "Then I could wake him up and you do whatever you wish with him."

"I see not how this deal is any different then her's," The huntress remarked.

"It's not but here's _my_ part of the deal," Z whispered just before he sighed heavily. "She was taking me to my, our original mates. If you will help us, keeping in mind that Nearmyer is yours, I will agree to...mate with you after we get to our original mates. Do we have a deal?" The huntress paused as she thought it over.

"We have a deal," She whispered and Z's heart lifted. "I however want...I want a gesture of good faith."

"What do you want?" Z asked worry entering his voice.

"Just a kiss," She cooed softly.

"Deal," Z said just loud enough that the dented helmet huntress cocked her head.

"What have you two agreed upon?" She demanded tightening her grip on Nearmyer.

"I accept your deal," The other huntress said before Z could speak. "Mine for yours, however he has agreed to give me something first."

"What?" She demanded. The other huntress didn't answer but loosed her grip on Z and turned him around so they were facing each other. She then reached up and removed her helmet as she brought Z closer.

"Thhhiissss," She hissed since her helmet wasn't translating for her. She pressed her mouth over Z's and he felt her tongue slip inside of his mouth. The huntress with the dented helmet growled slightly as she held Nearmyer even tighter his head still tucked to his chest. Z's eyes grew wide as her tongue moved around in his mouth playfully bating his tongue around. She turned her head to the side to get a different angle and he felt her tongue move around even more exploring every inch of his mouth. He didn't know how much longer she planned on keeping this up but what he did know was that he need air and soon. She pulled her mouth off of his finally removing her tongue and allowing Z to suck in a breath of air. Before he could even exhale she had thrown him to the ground in front of her.

"Your turn," She said speaking to her rival after she had replaced her helmet. With a low growl she threw Nearmyer to the ground as well, he landed a little in front of Z. "The first part of our deal." The huntress demanded.

"Just hang on," Z said as he wiped his mouth for she had left a lot of saliva on it. He crawled over to Nearmyer and rolled him onto his back and looked him over. He then removed the bottle of tabasco, opened it, shook a few drops on the inside of the lid and waved it under Nearmyer's nose. The reaction was almost instant as Nearmyer jerked up awake coughing as the pepper sauce burned his nose. "Reveille private, reveille." Z said slapping Nearmyer on the back as he coughed.

"Ah my fucking head," Nearmyer groaned as he rubbed it. "What the fuck happened?"

"Well," Z said helping Nearmyer to his feet. "We enlisted into the Army and went to basic training then to advance individual training. After that we went to-"

"I know all that jackass," Nearmyer said lightly shoving Z. "I mean what happened while I was knocked out?"

"Well funny story," Z said rubbing the back of his head. "I made a deal with the two predators that were hunting us."

"Yautja," Nearmyer corrected.

"Anyway," Z said after giving Nearmyer a death glare. "Long story short they are taking use to Xena and your mate. All you have to do is sleep with that Yautja there." Z pointed at the huntress that had been holding him hostage.

"Sweet," Nearmyer said as he started to walk towards her. Z stopped him placing a hand on his chest feeling his body armor.

"Hold on lover boy," Z said. "That's after they take us to them."

"What happens after they take us to them?" Nearmyer asked. "And the mating?"

"I don't fucking know," Z admitted. "Why don't you think of something for once."

"What is the other part of your deal with her?" The dented helmet huntress asked Z.

"Holy shit they can talk?" Nearmyer asked amazed.

"Yes a lot has happened while you've been napping. Now, she is going to help us get to our mates," Z explained. "Then she can mate with Nearmyer all she wants." Z glanced over at Nearmyer who had a stupid grin on his face, he saw Z looking at quickly removed it.

"That is all?" She asked Z.

"Yes that is all," Z lied dropping his glaze to the dirt. She eyed Z suspiciously and then her rival but didn't say anything.

"Let us start moving again," She said tossing Nearmyer's rifle to the ground. "We can make it there before night fall."

"Make it where?" Nearmyer asked. "And what are we doing when we get there?"

"Nearmyer my boy," Z said as he went over to where his rifle landed and picked it up. "We are going to do at least one of the three things that our recruiters subconsciously promised us we would get to do in the Army. Shoot the bad guys, rescue damsels in distress and get laid. Not bad for a couple of pogs huh?" Z asked as he handed Nearmyer his rifle.

"Hooah," Nearmyer said accepting the rifle. They both turned and started to walk following the huntress with the dented helmet the other huntress falling behind them. As they walked Nearmyer looked over at Z and saw a little bit of blood drip from his nose, a leftover from the tabasco sauce. "Hey Z your bleeding," Nearmyer said point at his nose. Without missing a beat Z looked over at Nearmyer wiping the blood from his nose.

"I ain't got time to bleed," Z said causing the two to laugh hysterically. The two huntresses were confused as they could not see the humor in what the two were laughing about.


End file.
